Temporary placement approved with Jonathan and Abigail Mercer pending final review.
Priya inhaled. “I know that name.”
Rowan looked at her.
“Abigail Mercer runs a children’s music school in Brentwood. Her husband is a pediatric physical therapist. They lost a baby years ago.” Priya’s expression softened. “Rowan, they may not know.”
“Know what?”
“That Lily was taken.”
The words changed everything.
Until that moment, Rowan had imagined villains behind every door. But now he pictured a couple holding a fragile infant, believing they had been chosen to love her.
Megan had been robbed.
But perhaps Lily had not been unloved.
That thought steadied him.
“Can we go there?” he asked.
Priya checked the file. “Not tonight. We need to do this carefully. If the Mercers are innocent, we protect them too. If Lily is with them, the priority is not drama. It’s her well-being.”
Rowan closed the folder slowly. “Megan needs to know.”
