Livia stood there in a pale blue prom dress, her hand linked through her twin brother Liam’s arm, wearing that impatient teenage smile that always made her look older than eighteen“Stay together tonight,” I told them.

Liam smiled easily.
Livia rolled her eyes.

“Mom, we’re eighteen, not eight.”

“I know,” I said, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “That’s why I’m nervous.”

My husband, John, touched my shoulder.

“Camila, let them enjoy prom.”

But I could not let it go.

I looked directly at Livia.

“And stay away from Mitchell.”

Her smile disappeared.

“Mom.”

“I’m serious.”

“No,” she said quietly. “You know his mom. That’s not the same thing.”

Mitchell’s mother, Natalie, and I had history. Bad history. The kind that leaves both women convinced the other one is always wrong.

Liam tugged his sister’s arm.

“Liv, come on. We’re going to be late.”

Livia looked at me one last time.

“Can I have one night where you trust me?”

“Trust isn’t the issue.”

She stared at me with hurt in her eyes.

“It never is with you.”

Then she walked down the porch steps with Liam.

That was the last time I heard my daughter’s voice for eleven months.

At 11:47 p.m., the phone rang.

The school’s number flashed across the screen, and my hand started shaking before I even answered.

“Camila?” Principal Thomas said. “You and John need to come to the school now.”

“What happened?”

His voice trembled.

“It’s Livia. She stepped outside, and no one has seen her since.”

John was already grabbing his keys.

But I said the first name fear gave me.

“Where’s Mitchell?”

Mr. Thomas paused.

“We don’t know that he has anything to do with this.”

“Of course he does.”

“Camila, please just come.”

When we arrived, balloons still hung from the gym doors.

The music had stopped.

Students whispered in clusters, their glittering dresses and loosened ties suddenly looking wrong under the hallway lights.

Liam sat outside the office in his tux, his bow tie hanging loose around his neck.

I rushed to him.

“Where is she?”

His face crumpled.

“She said she needed air. I thought she’d come right back.”

“You promised me you’d stay together.”

“I know.”

“Camila,” John said softly.

I pulled away from him.

“Where’s Mitchell?”

Liam flinched.

I saw it.

I just misunderstood it.

Mr. Thomas stepped closer.

“We’ve called the police. They’re checking the grounds. Her purse is gone, and her phone is off. Because she’s eighteen, there’s a possibility she left by choice.”

“Her purse is gone?” John asked.