bChapter /bb63 /b

“You don’t know?” I spit, my knuckles stinging, but I don’t cate, don’t know? Another punchnds, harder this time, sending his head snapping to the

side. Blood drips from his split lip, but I still don’t stop. “You think I believe that?”

Shane coughs, groaning as he tries to shield himself, but I shove his hands away. My heart pounds, each beat fueled by pure rage

“You locked her in here with a fucking monster! You knew what you were doing, and now she’s missing. So I’ll ask onest time, I growl, grabbing him bby /bthe front of his shirt again and forcing him to look at me, his face already bruising.

“Where. Is. She?”

His breathes in short gasps, his chest heaving as he res mouth. “I swear.”

01

through swollen

beyes/bbi. /i/b

“I don’t know,” he rasps, blood trickling down the corner of his

I clench my jaw so hard it hurts. My hands shake with the urge to keep goingb, /bto keep hitting him until he does know, until he gives me something. anything to go on. But all I see in his face is pain and exhaustion, and for the first time, doubt creeps in. What if he’s telling the btruth/b? What if he really doesn’t know?

I curse under my breath, shoving him back down before I force myself to take a step back, my chest heaving. The rage is still there, boiling under my skin, but now it’s mixed with something worseb. /bFear. Because if Shane isn’t lying, then that means Aurora is out there, alone, and I still don’t know where to find

her.

Shane was barely recognizable beneath me, his face swollen, his lip split, blood seeping from his nose. bMy /bknuckles throbbed, the sting of btorn /bskin registering somewhere in the back of my mind, but I didn’t care. I could still hear his voice, still see the smugness in his beyes /bbefore bI /bstarted swinging,

My breath came in ragged, uneven gasps, my chest rising and falling like a storm barely contained. The only thing stopping me from finishing what bI /bstarted was the firm grip on my shoulderb, /byanking me back, pulling me away from him before I could lose myself entirely.

“That’s enough,” my father’s voice was stern, unwavering, but it wasn’t anger that met me when I turned to face him–it was something ifar /iheavier. Disappointment.

‘You need to stop this, Caleb.” His grip was tight, but not painful, a grounding force against bthe /bchaos in my head. “Right now, your focus shouldn’t be here.” It should be on finding Aurora.”

Aurora. Her name cut through the haze, and suddenly, I was aware of just how much time I had wasted hereb. /bI let out a sharp breath, running a hand through my hair, my fingers tangling in the mess of it. My heart was still poundingb, /bthe adrenaline making my limbs feel jittery, but I forced myself to bmeet /bmy father’s gaze.

His eyes softened just slightly. “I’ll take care of everything here. You need to find her before something bad happens,” he said, his tone quieter but no less urgent.

My stomach twisted at his words. The unease had already been there, gnawing at bme /bfrom the moment I lost sight of her, but now it sank its teeth deeper, ba /bvicious, consuming thing. What if something had already happened? What if I was tooteb? /b

bI /bexhaled sharply, giving a single nod. There was no time to waste. Without another word, I turned on my heel and bolted, the world narrowing down bto /bone singr thought–Aurora.

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