Chapter 45

Carson:

Carson stared at his phone, willing it to ring. He'd been trying Alice's number for the past hour, but it kept going straight to voicemail. With each failed attempt, his heart sank a little more.

"Come on, Alice," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Where are you?"

He looked around his hotel room, which was a mess of clothes and papers. A half-packed suitcase lay open on the bed. Carson had never been the best at organizing, and his current emotional state wasn't helping.

With a sigh, he tossed his phone onto the bed and went back to packing. As he folded a shirt (badly), his mind wandered to Alice and Charlie. His son. A little boy he'd never even met. The guilt hit him like a punch to the gut.

"I'm going to make this right," he said to the empty room. "I have to."

Carson knew it was a long shot, but he had a plan. Alice had once mentioned that her family lived in Manchester. It wasn't much to go on, but it was a start. He'd booked a flight for the next morning, ho