Chapter 50

The house had quieted. The kind of silence only a close family can create after hours of catching up, laughter, and shared pain.

Savannah had tucked herself into her room after triple-checking the locks. Everest took the guest room like he always did—old habits—and Nevada crashed on the couch, a blanket thrown over him, controller still in hand.

I stared at the ceiling of Savannah's extra bedroom, the soft glow of moonlight spilling through the blinds. The mattress was too soft. The sheets too clean. It felt alien after nights of insomnia and adrenaline.

But I was grateful for it.

For a second, I let myself feel safe.

Then my phone buzzed.

I sat up immediately.

Elias. Again.

"I found her. His ex-wife's mother. She's alive. Lives upstate. She told me something."

My thumbs hovered over the screen, heart racing.

Another message came in seconds later:

"Grayson has a child. A daughter. The mother disappeared after she gave birth. The grandmother raised her until she was two. Then... nothing. Gone. Vanished."

I froze.

A child?

Grayson—a father?

"The grandmother's name is Lillian DeVareaux. She said Grayson threatened her when she asked questions. Told her to stay silent 'if she valued what little family she had left.'"

I clutched the phone tighter, fingers trembling. I read the message again and again, unable to tear my eyes away from the last line Elias sent:

"Grayson's daughter would be about ten now. No one knows where she is. Not even Lillian."

"Scarlett?" Savannah's voice came softly through the door, groggy.

"I'm fine," I whispered. "Just… bad dream."

But I wasn't dreaming.

Grayson had always been a nightmare.

But now?

He was someone's nightmare too.

A child—alone, hidden, maybe worse.

My pulse pounded in my ears as I laid back down, staring up at the ceiling again.

Sleep was impossible now.

Because for the first time in this entire twisted game, I wasn't just afraid for myself.

I was afraid for a little girl I had never met.

And I was going to find her.