[Elena's POV]

The wax cracked with a dry snap.

My fingers, still trembling from the adrenaline and the cold hospital floor, fumbled to pull out the single sheet of thick, cream-colored paper inside.

There was no letterhead. No ransom demand. No threat typed out in cut-out magazine letters like in the movies.

Just a sharp, angular and hurried handwriting.

E,

40.7794° N, 73.9632° W

Today. 17:00.

Come alone.

, Ryan C.

I stared at the signature, my breath catching in my throat.

Ryan C.

The name echoed in the hollow chambers of my memory. Ryan. It was my maternal grandfather's name. And...

My mother's voice from years ago floated back...