Roth followed the boy up the porch, raising his eyebrows when Kayden pressed the doorbell instead of going inside. “Came out a different way, did you?”

“Yeah…”

Roth kept it at that. “Why—”

Kayden tugged at his sleeve. “Later. Mrs. Laje will get angry if I talk to strangers.”

An amused chuckle filled the air. “A little late for that, don’t you think?”

The boy shrugged. “You said you could give me a home. And I like you. A lot. Don’t ask why.”

Roth fought hard to contain his laugh. “Now I want to know why.”

“I—”

The front door swung open. A woman around Roth’s age stood in the doorway, illuminated from the lamps lighting the foyer. Her green gaze tired, black hair in disarray. He could tell she was exhausted by the way her body sagged forward, as if her frame wasn’t strong enough to hold her up.

“Kayden! What are you doing outside? Come on, let’s get you warmed up.” She looked at Roth, wringing her hands. “I’m so sorry for the trouble, sir. I hope he didn’t cause you any problems.”

“None at all, ma’am.” Roth glanced down at the boy, his heart squeezing painfully at the lost look on his face. “Actually…I was wondering if we could have a word, if you don’t mind.”

“You mean now?”

Smiling, he nodded. “I don’t think this should wait.”

“Very well, off to bed, Kayden. Unless you need something hot to drink?”

“No, Mrs. Laje. Good night, d…Roth.”

“Hold on. Before you leave, I need to ask, how did you meet and what were you doing outside this late at night?”

Kayden shuffled his feet. “I wasn’t paying attention and ran into him. I wanted to go for a walk.”

Mrs. Laje sighed. “Okay. We’ll talk about this in the morning. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Roth waited until Kayden was out of sight before he spoke again. “May I come inside?”

“You seriously can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Do you have time for a meeting with me tomorrow?”

“No.” Mrs. Laje wrapped her robe tighter around her shoulders. “What is this about?”

“Kayden. I—”

“Say no more. Let’s talk in my office.”

Roth followed her up a flight of stairs, noting the pristine condition of the place. He couldn’t feel the chill from outside, which made him think the rest of the building was kept nice and toasty for the kids. Nightlights were placed in every hallway, allowing for easy navigation in the dark.

He and Susan had been looking around at different places to adopt. Susan suggested this one a few days ago. They were ready to start building a family. Both agreed to look into any opportunities that came their way, and gave each other permission to inquire after a child if the other wasn’t present.

Roth wanted to have Susan with him, but she was away for the weekend, helping her mom bake sweets for the holidays. He didn’t want to let this opportunity go.

He was brought to a spacious room. A desk sat near the back window, and two sofas were placed around a coffee table. Roth took off his coat, folding it over the back of one of the sofas. “I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Roth Anders.”

“Ava Laje, but you can call me Laje, everyone does.”

“It’s a pleasure, Laje. Thank you for giving me your time. I know it’s late.” Roth took a seat across from her.

Laje sat back against the sofa. “It is. You said you wanted to talk about Kayden, right? Did he cause you any trouble?”

Roth shook his head. “Like I said, he wasn’t a problem…I was wondering if anyone has adopted him. My wife and I are ready to start a family. She’s out for the weekend, but will be available next week for a meeting. If there’s a chance we can become his parents, we’d be over the moon with joy.”

Laje crossed her arms. The tightening of her jaw wasn’t a good sign. “Roth…may I call you Roth?”

“You may.”

“Look, I don’t know the easiest way to say this. Kayden isn’t cleared for adoption. He’ll have to stay here until he turns eighteen.”

Roth tilted his head. “What do you mean by that? Does he know he can’t be adopted?”

“Well,” Laje gripped her arms, “I haven’t explicitly told him. It’s for his own good.”

“You think letting a child pointlessly hope for years and years is better than telling them the truth?” Roth ran a frustrated hand over his face. “How old is Kayden?”

“He’ll be fourteen soon.” Laje leaned forward. “I know how it sounds. But none of us want to risk the potential dangers of placing him in a family. If you only knew the truth…”

“I do.” Roth couldn’t believe this was the reason behind keeping a child locked inside the system. “Nearly everyone in Castlebrooke knows. It’s not his fault. No one should shoulder the blame onto him. It lies entirely on the adults.”

Laje got up from the sofa and walked towards one of the filing cabinets next to the desk. She rummaged around for a few seconds, then retrieved a folder so thick that it had to be held together with industrial sized clips. Roth’s eyes rounded at the sheer size of it. She set it on the coffee table, removed the clips, and opened to a page near the middle.

A picture of a much younger Kayden Smith filled Roth’s vision. He was scrawny at the time this was taken. His eyes looked dull, almost lifeless. Dark circles made him look exhausted. He was very pale and much too thin. A bit of medical tape poked out near the collar of his shirt. His black hair stuck up, clumped together in big spikes, like the boy’s hands had gripped it multiple times throughout the day.

The thing that broke Roth’s heart was the way Kayden’s mouth was twisted in pain, like he wanted to cry, but was holding himself back.

“When was this taken?”

“The day he was brought here. We take pictures of every new arrival. I remember Kayden fought to get away.”

Roth could guess why. What child would want to be forced in front of a camera when they were going through so many emotions. “His chest? Is that—”

“Yeah. Took a long time to heal.”

“Were you the only place who’d accept him?”

Laje frowned, ignoring his question. She flipped to a different page, outlining details of his arrival. “I’m not showing you this so you’ll gain sympathy for him. I’m trying to explain all the reasons why you should give up.” She pointed to a line of text. “He made all the caretakers uncomfortable. Many of the children complained about his stare. He didn’t talk for months, Roth. We had to supervise him round the clock.

“And here,” she thumbed a few more pages, “all of his teachers said the same thing. One even wrote an official complaint asking for Kayden to be removed from his class because he feared for his life. Does that sound like a child who should be adopted into an innocent family?”

“What it sounds like,” Roth said after scanning the rest of the page, “is that all the adults decided to give up on him. How can you expect a child to act normally after the tragedy he experienced? How does a vacant stare and not talking lead to him being dangerous? Surely a psychologist tested him. What were his results?”

Laje closed the folder. She stared off in the distance, biting her lip. “His psychologist said he was okay to be adopted. But…”

“But?”

“The parents looking to adopt…enough of them complained, and the children added to their complaints…”

“What are you saying? That you haven’t cleared him for adoption because of ill-informed prejudices by random strangers?”

“The children—”

“You’d stop a child from finding a family because of what other children say about him?”

“Listen—”

“Laje,” Roth opened the folder back to the picture of Kayden, “does he look dangerous to you? From my brief encounter, I’d say he’s done a fantastic job finding his way back to himself. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been knowing none of the adults wanted to help.”

“We did want to help,” Laje snapped. “Still do. You don’t understand how hard it was before Castlebrooke started expanding. News like that doesn’t stay hidden. It caused an uproar. What was I supposed to do, adopt him out to a family with so much ridicule surrounding him?” She turned to the last few pages of the folder, highlighting news articles from seven years ago.

“I understand how it sounds, Roth, I truly do. The police tried hard to scrub everything to protect Kayden’s identity; but people talk. I saved these articles to remind myself why I shouldn’t be carefree and adopt him out to the first willing family. Some of the things people speculated about him… It’s sickening. I know he’s a good kid.” Laje closed her eyes. “I wish I could believe he won’t hurt anyone.” She paused for a moment, rubbing at her temple. “The way he just stares, without moving, is unnerving.”

Roth leaned back against the sofa, trying to understand the full picture. Laje kept contradicting herself. She knew Kayden was a good kid, but also thought he was capable of hurting someone? The psychologist said Kayden was fine, but Laje didn’t clear him for adoption because of a few rumors? Wouldn’t that only encourage the public to take them as true?

Roth was finding it hard to believe Laje and her team had the best intentions towards Kayden. Why was she even allowed to care for children if she wasn’t doing her best to help them?

Roth rolled out his shoulders. “Laje. I’m telling you this in advance because you’ve given me your time tonight when you didn’t have to. I…I’m terribly sorry. I have to alert the authorities and ask them to open an investigation into your orphanage. What I’m hearing…how could any child be happy under your care?”

His words hung heavy in the air, intensifying the deafening silence.

Laje gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “You don’t understand, Roth. I can’t subject innocent people to the storm that will follow.”

A long exhale from Roth whispered into existence. “If you have nothing to hide, an investigation should be of no consequence.”

He rose to his feet. His arm was halfway through his coat sleeve when Laje lurched to her feet. “Wait! I…please, I’ll tell you everything. I can’t have the police snooping around. It will make things worse.”

Roth looked skyward, pushing down his instincts as a lawyer. He really wished he’d had his cup of coffee for this conversation. “Alright. I’ll hear you out.” He placed his coat next to him on the sofa and sat back down.

Laje opened the folder to a different page, closer to the front. Profiles of different people all with the last name Smith. “His family,” Laje explained, “on his mother’s side.” She turned the page. “And on his father’s side.”

Roth leaned forward, not sure what he was looking at. “How do they play into his story? Have they all passed away?”

“No,” Laje checked that the door was still closed, “which has proven to be a big thorn in my side. I wish Kayden was an orphan. Things would go much easier if he was.”

Alarm bells went off. Roth nearly jumped from his seat, face roiling with anger. “Are you holding him hostage from his own family?” he roared.

“NO! Calm down, will you? You’re going to wake everyone up.”

“How can I be calm when you just showed me his entire family tree?”

“Because they’re the reason he’s here.” Laje’s voice wobbled. “They called him a demon child and relinquished him to the state. Due to a number of things his family said and did, the courts approved it and he wound up with me. His father never signed the birth certificate, so none of Kayden’s family on that side bothered to step up. I honestly tried, in the beginning, to adopt him out. When I approved one of the families, I asked the government to do a background check before I moved the paperwork forward…what I found…I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”

A thousand questions rushed forward at once. Roth was on the edge of his seat. Too much adrenaline and not enough answers. “What did you find?”