جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 216

Rosa's POV Taylor used the gun to point at a chair across the room. "Sit."I quietly moved toward the chair and lowered myself into it.A laugh escaped her lips. "Who would have thought?" she said mockingly. "All this time, you could have been obedient. Maybe I should have carried a gun around from the beginning."She twirled the weapon lazily. "Turns out this is the only thing you respect."I ignored her. Inside, I was praying that Alex would arrive before everything spiraled completely out of control.Taylor returned her attention to her phone. Her fingers moved rapidly across the screen as though she was checking messages or tracking something. I had no idea what she was doing. What I did know was that I needed to keep her talking. I needed to buy time."How did Charles do it?" I asked.She barely looked up. "Do what?""The search results. How did he manipulate everything I saw?"Taylor finally raised her head and laughed. "You of all people should know the answer to that. You're

Alex's POV The moment my car turned into the ranch compound, a gunshot shattered the air.My heart stopped, and for one terrifying second, I could not breathe. The only thought in my head was Rosa. She was in that ranch.I threw the car door open before I could form a complete thought, and sprinted toward the ranch. Every horrible possibility flashed through my mind. I had spent weeks searching for her—weeks chasing dead ends, wondering if she was alive, hurt, or trapped somewhere with Charles.I had finally found her. I could not lose her now. I burst toward one of the large windows and froze.Nobody had been shot. But Charles stood in the middle of the room holding a gun. Smoke still curled from the barrel.Rosa was standing several feet away, trembling. Beside her stood Taylor. The moment my eyes landed on Rosa, everything else faded. Relief crashed into me so hard that my knees almost gave way. She was here, alive, and standing right in front of me.For weeks, I had imagined thi

Rosa's POV The drive back to Manhattan felt strangely unreal. I sat quietly in the backseat of the car, staring out the window as the city slowly came into view. I could not decide whether my heart felt heavy or light. Everything that had happened over the past few weeks, and especially over the past few days, felt like a blur stitched together by pain, fear, loss, and miracles.It felt impossible that I was still here.It felt impossible that life had continued after everything that had happened.A warm hand suddenly squeezed mine. I turned my head and found Alex watching me. A smile immediately tugged at my lips."You're thinking too much again," he said softly.I laughed under my breath. "Can you blame me?"His fingers tightened around mine. "Are you worried about going back?"I knew exactly what he meant. I looked down at our joined hands before nodding."A little."His expression softened."Because of my father?""Because of everything," I admitted. "It feels like I'm returning