Selena POV
The first time Ryder showed me Katarina’s father, I couldn’t handle it.
I’d walked into that dark room thinking I was tough, thinking I could stomach whatever truth he had waiting. But I hadn’t expected to see that man tied to a chair, mouth duct-taped, bruises blooming across his face like rot. I didn’t expect the guilt. The disgust. The raw hatred that burned in my gut like acid.
I ran.
I left without looking back.
Went home. Locked my doors. Sat in the shower for an hour until the water went cold. Tried to make sense of what I’d seen, but none of it made sense. None of it felt real.
But the next day, when Lucas told me to sit tight again, to wait until he “got clearance,” I cracked.
Kat was still missing. Lucas was spinning in circles. And I—I had seen a key chained to
