“Ella,” Nora said softly, as she sat down next to her daughter on the sofa. “Sweetheart.”

Ella lifted her head and was surprised to find so many people in her living room. She turned and looked at her mother and instantly tears pooled in her eyes.

It was almost an hour since Max had vanished and the house was now full of people. Ella had no idea where they had come from, nor did she care. The only thought she had in her mind was, where was Max?

“He’s gone, Mom,” Ella sobbed as her mother wrapped her in her arms. “My baby is gone.”

“We’re going to find him, sweetheart,” Nora whispered to her daughter. “We won’t stop till we do. He is out there just waiting for us to bring him home.”

“Ella,” Pete said as he crouched down in front of Ella. “We need a photo of Max. The most recent one you have.”

“Why are you here?” Ella asked surprised to see the detective in front of her.

“Nathan called me,” Pete explained. “I’m going to help bring Max home.”

“I have a photo I took this morning on my phone,” Ella said as she tried to remember where she had even left it. Ella stood up and looked around the room. There were so many faces that Ella didn’t know. Police officers in uniform, and some in plain clothes, all strangers, but all here to try and find her little boy.

She searched for Nate among the crowd, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Where’s Nate?” Ella asked as she turned back to Pete.

“He and your father are helping to search the local streets,” Pete explained. “We are hoping that maybe Max just wandered off.”

Before Ella could reply, Pete’s phone began to ring, and he pulled it from his pocket.

“Excuse me for a moment, Ella,” he said giving her an apologetic smile. “I need to take this.”

Ella watched him as he walked across the room to talk to whoever it was that was calling him. Nora stood up and said something to Ella, but she didn’t hear a word. She remained focused on Pete, and she knew by his face, something was very wrong.

As he talked to whoever it was, he glanced over at Ella, and she knew it was bad, whatever it was. Her heart hammered in her chest, as she waited to hear what he had to say.

When he finished on the phone, he seemed to call someone else. The conversation lasted no longer than thirty seconds before Pete hung up. He took a deep breath and walked back across the room to Ella.

Each step he took, Ella could hear her heart pound loudly in her chest, and no other sound. Finally, Pete re-joined her. He took another deep breath before he began to speak.

“Ella,” he said, and Ella prepared herself for whatever was coming next. “I just received word that Nina Regan disappeared from rehab earlier today. They believe that she stole a car that belonged to one of the counselors at the clinic. The car is fitted with a Lojack system, and we are tracking it as we speak. The car was on this street within the last hour. We have units en route to intercept it.”

“What does that mean,” Nora asked as Ella tried to take in what he had said.

“Mrs. Cassidy,” Pete replied. “We believe that Nina Regan has Max.”

“Where are the girls?” Ella asked as the thought suddenly occurred to her. She needed to know that they were safe. What if Nina had come back and took them too.

“I believe they’re out the back, there are officers out there with them,” Pete said, and Ella instantly pushed passed Pete and hurried towards the back garden. The minute she reached the back door, she spotted both girls sitting on the swing, and she could see they were both very upset.

Without missing a beat, she ran down the garden towards the girls.

The moment they saw her, they both jumped up and ran towards her, and wrapped their arms around her.

“It’s okay,” Ella said as she held them both so tightly. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“Ella, I’m so sorry I didn’t watch Max better,” Cassie sobbed as she looked up at Ella.

“This is not your fault, Cass,” Ella cried as she pulled the girl to her and hugged her once more. “You are not to blame yourself for this.”

“But Daddy told me to watch him…” the little girl whispered and sobbed harder. “He was so mad at me.”

“He was just upset, Sweetheart,” Ella said and kissed the top of Cassie’s head. “We are going to find Max, and we are going to bring him home.”

“Ella,” Nate said from the doorway, and Ella and the girls all turned to face him. The moment Shelby saw him, she ran to him, but Cassie just held on to Ella.

Nate picked Shelby up and made his way down to where Ella was standing with Cassie. When he reached Ella, he stopped and stared at her for a moment, silently telling her what he couldn’t say aloud. Then he wrapped her and Cassie in his arms and held the three of them tightly.

“We are going to find him,” Nate whispered as he pressed his lips to Ella’s head.

“Ella,” Henry’s voice came from the back porch a few moments later. “Nate.”

They both turned the moment they heard Henry’s voice. The second Ella saw the look on her father’s face, she held her breath and reached for Nate’s hand. Something had happened; something very bad. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach.

“Henry?” Nate said as he gripped Ella’s hand tightly, sensing too that something was wrong. “What’s happened?”

“Eh… Brandon just called,” Henry said, and Ella could hear the grief in his voice. He coughed to clear his throat before he continued. “There was an accident. He was one of the first responders.”

He paused as he searched for the right words to use.

“Dad, just say it,” Ella pleaded as her stomach began to heave. She knew what he was going to say, but she needed to hear the words.

“Sweetheart,” Henry said as the tears trickled down his face. “Max was in the car. He’s hurt. He was taken by air ambulance to the hospital. Brandon is with him. It’s not good, Ella.”

“I need to go to him,” Ella said as a strange calmness settled over her, and she hurried back into the house.

Pete insisted that he drive Ella and Nate to the hospital that the sirens would get them there quicker. Henry said that he and Nora would follow on with the two girls in his car.

Ella watched her mom and dad as Pete pulled out of their driveway. She closed her eyes and prayed to God that this was all just a bad dream and that she would wake up soon.

When they reached the hospital, Ella spotted Brandon at the far end of the hallway. He was surrounded by the rest of his fire crew, as they all waited for news on Max.

“WHERE IS HE?” She demanded as she reached her brother in record time. “I NEED TO SEE HIM.”

“He’s in surgery,” Brandon said as he took hold of Ella's arms. “They are doing everything they can.”

“But he’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” Ella asked as her stomach heaved once more. “He will be okay?”

“Ella,” Brandon said as the tears danced in his eyes. “His little body was just so hurt. I got him out as fast as I could, but I don’t know if it was enough.”

“But they can fix him,” Ella insisted as she looked from her brother to Nate, then back to her brother again. “He is going to be okay.”

Brandon didn’t reply. He just stared at his sister, as the tears trickled down his face.

“Bran, tell me that Max is going to be okay,” Ella pleaded as a sob escaped from deep down inside her as her heart broke into a million pieces.

“Ella,” Nate cried softly as he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Ella could hold back no longer. Her legs seemed to buckle as another sobbed tore through her entire body. Nate scooped her up and carried her to a chair and sat down. Ella buried her face into his neck and continued to sob as her mind raced with so many questions.

Why was this happening to her? What did she do that was so wrong that she would be punished like this? Why did this have to happen to Max?

Nina! Ella thought as a hatred she had never felt before consumed her entire body. She did this. I’m going to kill her!

“Where is Nina?” She asked as she suddenly lifted her head from Nate’s shoulder before she pushed up from him and walked back to Brandon. “She did this to my son. She took him from his home, and then she hurt him. I am going to kill her.”

“Ella,” Brandon said, as he gave Nate an uncertain glance. “Please calm down.”

“DON’T FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, BRANDON!” Ella screamed angrily. “My son is fighting for his life because of that bitch, and I am going to make her pay. Now tell me where the hell she is.”

“Ella,” Brandon said as he glanced at Nate once more.

“What are you not saying,” Nate asked, clearly sensing there was something that Brandon was holding back. “Where is Nina?”

“Nate, the car hit a truck,” Brandon explained as he looked from Nate to Ella, then back to Nate again. “It was bad. The police think that Nina had been drinking. There were empty vodka bottles on the floor of the car. When we got there, it was already too late. Nina died the moment she hit the truck.”

“She…she’s dead?” Nate asked as he tried to absorb the words Brandon was saying.

Ella didn’t say a word. Instead, she just stood there and stared at her brother in disbelief. Nina was dead. She was drunk, and she took Max, then hit a truck, and now she was dead.

Ella’s stomach heaved once more, as bile rose up from inside her and burned her throat. She turned and ran to a nearby rubbish bin, barely making it before she vomited up everything that was inside her.

“It’s going to be okay,” Nate said as he hurried to Ella and softly rubbed her back, as she vomited once again.

“How can it be?” Ella said as a sob escaped from her mouth. “She is dead; Max is just a little boy; how is he going to get through this? My…my baby is going to die. Nate, tell me that my baby isn’t going to die.”

“I wish I could,” he whispered as he wrapped her in his arms. “I wish it were me in there instead of him. This is all my fault. I did this to him. I did this to all of you.”

Just then, Ella looked up and saw her mom and dad standing there with Cassie and Shelby. That’s when it hit her, that as much as she hated Nina; and she hated her with every fiber of her being, she loved those girls, and Nina was their mother. They had just lost their mother and that broke Ella’s heart more.

Ella pulled back from Nate and looked up at him. Nate quickly followed her gaze and he froze the moment he saw the girls. Ella knew that it just hit him that he would have to tell them about Nina.

“Daddy, is Max okay?” Cassie asked as tears danced in her eyes.

“We don’t know, Sweetheart,” Nate said as he walked towards his girls and crouched down in front of them. “The doctors are trying very hard to make him better.”

“I’m sorry,” Cassie sobbed quietly, as her tears broke free and trickled down her little face. “I should have watched him better.”

“This is not your fault, Angel,” Nate said as he wrapped Cassie in his arms. “You are not to blame yourself for what has happened.”

Ella couldn’t take much more; her broken heart shattered completely. She was not ready to lose her little boy. She was not ready to have to pick up the pieces of this nightmare. She was not this strong.

“I need some air,” she whispered to no one in particular, as she turned and headed back down the corridor, towards the door; her pace picking up with each step she took.

“Ella?” Nate called after her, but she didn’t slow down, much less stop. “ELLA!”

She burst through the double doors at the end of the corridor, and out into the afternoon sun. She just stood there for a moment, as her mind raced.

She hated that she was so close to Max, yet there was nothing she could do to help him. She just wanted to see him and hold him. Her arms ached with longing for her little boy.

“Ella,” Nate said softly from behind her. “What can I do?”

“I can’t do this, Nate,” Ella cried. “I can’t be this person. I need my son to be okay because I can’t live in a world that he is no longer a part of.”

“Ella, you have to believe that he will get through this,” Nate said as he softly touched her back. “We both have to have faith in how strong he is.”

“I’m scared, Nate,” Ella whispered as she turned to face him. “If Max dies, I don’t know if I can be the person you need me to be to survive.”

“Then I will be that person,” Nate said as he wrapped her in his arms. “I will get us all through this. I promise Ella. Just don’t give up on him yet. We’re all in this together.”

Ella pressed her face into Nate's chest and held on to him like he was the only thing that was keeping her alive. She needed to believe that they were going to get through this.

“Guys,” Brandon said suddenly from behind them. They both turned and looked at him expectantly. “The doctor wants to talk to you. He has an update on Max.”

Ella looked up at Nate as he held out his hand to her.

“Together,” Nate said and nodded his head.

“Together,” she repeated, then took a deep breath before she allowed him to lead her back inside.