Two hours earlier.
The world outside the car window whipped by in a blur as Logan sat in the backseat, staring at his phone, lost in a storm of thoughts. His mind was a tangled mess, his heart pounding with unease.
The screen displayed his chat with Sophie. It struck him like a blow—since Ruth's death two weeks ago, their conversations had dwindled to almost nothing. Sophie hardly ever reached out anymore. Cold, distant, withdrawn—that's how she'd been lately. Just moments ago in the corridor, her face ghostly pale, she'd given him the only genuine smile he'd seen from her in weeks.
Logan's hand drifted to his chest, where his heart thumped erratically. His thoughts spiraled back to five years ago, to that near-fatal midnight. He'd watched kidnappers murder his parents, dragging his blo
