Third person POV
The screen cut to a clip, footage of Jasper at a press conference, jaw locked tight, tie crooked, bags beneath his eyes.
“I’m begging anyone,” Jasper said, voice hoarse and uneven, “anyone who’s seen her, who’s spoken to her, to come forward. I… I just want to know she’s safe.”
He looked like hell.
Disheveled. Hollow. A man unraveling.
“I shouldn’t have left,” he said quietly. “If you’re watching this… Scarlett, please. Come home.”
Scarlett sat down slowly, her legs giving way beneath her. Miriam hovered nearby, but said nothing, knowing she would speak only when she was ready.
“He looks like he’s losing his mind,” Miriam said gently.
Scarlett didn’t respond.
Instead, she reached for her new phone. For a moment, she hovered over the browser. Then she searched her
