I couldn’t stop thinking about the man behind Pierce’s podium.
That stance. That stillness. The way his eyes never left the camera.
I replayed the clip over and over until the screen blurred. My stomach churned. He wasn’t just anyone. He was the same man who had shown up in the hospital hallway weeks ago, the one who vanished before I could speak to him.
Something about him connected all the wrong dots in my mind – the missing ring, the note, and the whispers around my father’s accident.
And somehow, I knew Daniel had answers he hadn’t given me.
So my phone buzzed late that night with his message. We need to talk. I didn’t hesitate.
The city was half-drowned when I arrived.
Rain poured in relentless sheets, making the streetlights look like smudged halos. Daniel stood by his car,
