AN ALERT

LEO'S POV*

6:00 p.m.

Still no sign of Charlotte.

It's been 2 days!

The silence in my room was suffocating. I sat cross-legged on the floor, my back pressed against the edge of the bed, guitar resting heavily on my thigh. My fingers moved over the strings tiredly.

I’d been trying to write something all day to calm my nerves but failed woefully. I couldn't concentrate on my work either.

I sighed and tried out the words that were in my head.

🎶 *You were never mine to lose.*

*But I lost you all the same.*

*Now I wear this aching truth*

*Like a scar that says your name.*

*I never had you, but it hurts like hell*

*Like loving someone locked behind a shell.*

*You were close enough to want,*

*But too far to ever touch…*

*And it kills me more than I can tell…*

*That I never had you…* 🎶

My voice cracked on the last line.

“You need rest,” KC’s voice cut in. “That was horrible. You’ve never sounded so horrible before. It hurts my ears—and I’m not even human.”