Cole’s POV

Midnight.

Rain lashed against the windows, hard and relentless, filling the silence of the room. The faint glow of the bedside lamp barely reached the corners, but I didn’t care. I sat on the edge of the bed, my elbows resting on my knees, my fingers interlocked. My mind wasn’t here. It was trapped in the events of the past few days, running in circles, chasing answers I didn’t have.

Emily was back. Safe. But that didn’t erase the fact that she had been taken in the first place.

She had been kidnapped.

And I hadn’t been the one to save her.

She had come back on her...