DEREKThe crowd had already begun to gather when I arrived.The courtyard in front of the new Rogue Foundation was cordoned off with velvet rope and lined with silver-and-navy banners. The city's emblem flew alongside Moonstone’s and Red Ridge’s on tall flagpoles, and a heavy length of ribbon stretc
DEREKThe growl of the four-wheeler under me did nothing to quiet the growl inside my chest.I’d been patrolling for hours.The wind whipped against my jacket, tugging at the collar as I tore down another ridgeline, the sun low and angry behind me. Dust kicked up behind the tires in plumes. My hands
ELENAThe room was spinning when I surfaced.Not literally—not in that dizzy, vertigo way—but in a deeper, stranger sense. Like reality had been pulled too tight and then suddenly let go, snapping back with a sickening lurch.The floor wasn’t moving, but I felt as though I was tilting, like my soul
ELENAThe world tried to pull me back.I felt my body rise toward the surface, like a swimmer breaking through the final layer of water before air. My awareness strained toward consciousness.Light. Motion. The scent of the herbs in Dr. Voss’s office. But something inside me screamed not to go. Not
She mattered. Her work mattered. And I wasn’t going to let politics or petty grudges get in the way of that.Still, the silence from her was a wound that never stopped aching.That afternoon, my phone buzzed. I didn’t recognize the number.I almost didn’t answer.But some part of me—worn down, tired
DEREKI hadn’t slept much.Which wasn’t unusual lately. Not since the sentencing. Not since Elena had looked me dead in the eye and told me that she wanted nothing more to do with me.The words still echoed. Still hit like a shifting blade to the chest every time they replayed in my mind. And they r