Chapter 1

It was census time, and the police were doing house calls.

My seven-year-old son, Archie Burton, blinked and asked, "Why are you writing all this down?"

The officer patted Archie's head. "It helps with national statistics, and it keeps kids safe from human traffickers."

Archie nodded, then shot up with a sudden look of revelation. "Oh, I get it! You're looking for kidnappers! That's my dad! He said so himself yesterday! He kidnapped me!"

The officer's smile froze.

I stared at Archie in utter disbelief. When I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes, my mind went completely blank.

Archie loved using the "truth" to hurt me.

Just yesterday, I'd cut him off from eating too many snacks, and he called me an evil dad, saying he didn't want to be my son anymore.

Hot-headed, I shot back, "You're not my son anyway. I kidnapped you!"

He argued right back that he didn't believe me. Yet here he was now, taking a joke he claimed not to believe and serving it up to the cops as the "truth".

The officer's gaze at me turned cold.

I forced a dry laugh. "He wasn't listening yesterday, so I said it out of frustration. I didn't think he'd take it seriously."

Only then did the officer's expression soften. He turned to Archie and said, "Kiddo, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Your dad could go to prison if people think he's a kidnapper."

Archie nodded, and my heart began to settle. I thought the ordeal was over.

The next second, Archie looked up and said earnestly, "But my dad can't have kids. If I wasn't kidnapped, where'd I come from?"

The officer turned back to me, eyes sharp with suspicion.

I scrambled to explain, "I got a vasectomy right after he was born. That's probably what he means by 'can't have kids'."

I gave Archie's hand a firm tug, signaling him to zip it.

He pulled away instead. "Dad couldn't have kids right after getting married, but I'm already seven."

I had no idea how a seven-year-old could piece that logic together.

Strictly speaking, it raised some serious red flags.

My wife, Elsie Cooke, and I had been married for six years, and I'd had my vasectomy six years ago. How could we have a seven-year-old?

The officer realized the math wasn't adding up. His expression hardened. "Let me see the boy's birth certificate."

My heart sank into my stomach.

There was no birth certificate.

Six years ago, I'd risked my life to rescue Archie from a ring of human traffickers.

When the police pulled up his birth parents' records back then, the truth left us speechless.

Elsie and I went pale. We both knew one thing. Returning him to those people would be a fate worse than death.

We couldn't bear to do it, so we raised him as our own.

Archie thought I was just throwing a fit yesterday, oblivious to the fact that my harsh words were actually the truth.

We'd kept it from him only to shield him from ever feeling like an outsider in his own home.

Now, if I didn't come clean, I was going away in handcuffs.

Just as I opened my mouth, Archie gasped. "Oh! I remember now! Dad got Mom pregnant before they got married! That's what grown-ups mean by a scumbag, right?"

I froze on the spot.

If Archie's crude guess were true, I'd be dying of embarrassment right about now. But my silence now was born of disappointment.

Believing he'd landed a blow, Archie grinned with quiet triumph. "Don't be mad, Dad. I was just telling the truth to help you out!"

The officer withdrew his complicated gaze from me and went back to taking notes.

Hidden from sight, my hands were clenched tight as I fought to swallow the emotions surging inside me.

This wasn't the first time Archie had pulled something like this.