Chapter 28

Rosalee's Point of View

I sit stiffly in one of the high backed chairs across from Jensen’s desk, my hands clasped tightly in my lap. The air in the office feels heavier than usual, thick with worry and the unsaid things that have been building up between us for days now.

“She has never been gone this long,” Jensen says, breaking the silence first. His voice is low, but not emotionless. There is a tightness in it, the same tightness I have been feeling in my chest since the morning we found out Aria had disappeared.

I nod my head slowly, my throat tightening as guilt begins to creep in, uninvited but persistent. “I know,” I whisper, my voice barely audible. I glance towards the window, hoping, foolishly, that maybe I will see her walking back through the trees, angry but safe.

Then I add, more quietly, “Do you think we were too hard on her?”

Jensen leans back in his chair, his expression unreadable. That alone makes my heart beat faster. He has always been the one who held steady, eve