“She was here,” he whispered. “Lauren… you were really here.”
Aiden took a cautious step closer.
“If she left… do you think she escaped, sir?” he asked.
“Lauren wouldn’t just run from me,” Nathan answered automatically—then hesitated. “At least… she wouldn’t have before.”
Ranger let out another bark, this time pawing frantically at a stack of boxes. He started digging. Aiden knelt beside him, scooping away dirt and trash with his small hands.
Together, they unearthed a small wooden box caked in dried mud.
Nathan took it with trembling fingers and flipped it open.
Inside was a silver necklace and a folded piece of paper. The necklace was engraved on the back: N & L, their initials. A wedding gift.
But the paper…
The handwriting stole his breath.
Lauren’s.
“If anyone finds this, tell Nathan I’m alive. I need help. But I can’t go back. They’re still watching me.”
The world tilted. Nathan grabbed the edge of a broken crate to keep from collapsing.
“So… it’s true,” Aiden murmured. “She’s really alive.”
Nathan pressed the note to his chest. Tears he’d sworn would never fall again burned at the corners of his eyes.
Somewhere, for two long years, his wife had been running for her life. And he’d kept living inside his mansion, thinking nothing more could ever be done.
That guilt would ignite everything that came next.
That night, Nathan barely spoke. He drove with Aiden and Ranger to an old, rundown gas station—the only place open on that deserted highway. He bought bread and bottled water for the boy and, while Aiden ate, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number he hadn’t called in a long time.
“Harris,” he said as soon as the voice answered. “I need you to reopen my wife’s case.”
“Cole?” came the annoyed reply. “It’s two in the morning. That case is closed and buried.”
“She’s alive,” Nathan cut in. “I have her note. I found Ranger. I found her scarf. Someone tampered with everything.”
There was a long silence.
“You know that’s dangerous territory,” Detective Harris finally said. “Last time I got close to something bigger, they pulled me off the case. Powerful people were involved. Your lawyer, for example.”
Nathan felt a chill slide down his spine.
“Victor?” he rasped. “Victor Harlow?”
“He’s the one who pushed to close it,” Harris said. “He made a deal with the mechanic—Mike Darden. After that, both of them conveniently disappeared. I couldn’t go any further.”