Chapter 59

Kingston

Earlier That Same Day

I hadn’t even made it through my morning coffee when Rock burst through my office doors, his face pale and tight like he was holding something back—something bad.

“What happened?” I asked, standing before the words even finished leaving my mouth.

But I already knew the answer. Rock wouldn’t come into my office unannounced unless it involved her.

“There was a fire,” he said. “At Cora’s old apartment. It happened sometime a few hours ago.”

The world slowed, then cracked wide open. “What?”

Rock ran a hand through his hair, motioning toward the door. “Come on. I’m heading there right now and—”

I cut him off, grabbing my keys. “I’ll drive.”

We didn’t speak during the speedy drive there.

Why hadn’t she called me? She should know by now that if there is an issue, I’d help handle it. Unless…

No, I wouldn’t even consider that.

My mind spun with other worst-case scenarios, with questions that had no shape and no mercy. Rock’s knuckles were white from clenching his fists as we cut through traffic like we were racing death itself.

The fire trucks were gone by the time we arrived. In their place were smoldering ruins, police tape, and the acrid, unmistakable stench of charred wood and melted plastic. My lungs tightened as we stepped out of the car, ash still floating through the air like snow.

I scanned what was left of the building, my gaze locking on the blackened skeleton of the top floor. Hers.

No, no, no.

I pushed past the line of cops without hesitation. Rock called my name, but I didn’t stop until I was face-to-face with the wreckage. The heat radiating off the building was long gone, but something inside me still burned.

“She was here?” I asked, my voice hoarse. I wasn’t even sure who I was asking. Perhaps I was just asking the world in general in my disbelief.

A firefighter, a broad man with soot on his collar who had been standing nearby, glanced at me.

“We pulled a body out of the unit a couple of hours ago,” he said. “Not much left to identify. They’re looking into dental records now.”

My heart slammed into my ribs. It was hard to bring myself to ask the next question, but I had to know, had to be completely certain.

“What about a child? A little boy?”

The man shook his head. “No other remains. If a kid had been in there, we would’ve found something.”

Thank god, I almost said out loud. Riley had to be alright. He had survived. But where was he?

That’s when it hit me like a bullet to the chest.

Cora wouldn’t have been there without Riley.

No matter what else had happened between us—no matter the threats, the silence, the pain—she never would’ve left him. She had been home with him and would have done everything to escape by his side.

She wouldn’t have drawn a single breath if he weren’t beside her. And she would not have allowed herself to die and leave Riley unattended.

No, she would not leave Riley in life or in death.

My gut twisted, cold and sharp.

The person they found wasn’t her. It couldn’t be.

“Sir?” the marshal asked. “Are you family?”

Rock stepped in, out of breath from jogging to catch up with me. “He was close with the woman who used to live in that unit there. We both are. We came as soon as we heard about the fire.”

I turned away from them before I said something I’d regret. My pulse was racing, my instincts kicking into overdrive.

I couldn’t bring myself to talk to either of them, not when my mind was racing so violently.

Cora was gone.

But she wasn’t dead.

She had disappeared.

And she wanted me to believe she was.

I clenched my fists, staring at the smoke still rising from the building. Why? Why go through all this? Why burn it down? Why vanish without a word?

Unless…

Unless she thought she had no other choice.

Unless someone made her feel like this was the only way out.

The Silverfang pack.

They had never approved of her. Always whispering behind closed doors, calculating her worth in headlines and bloodlines. They had tolerated her only because I insisted.

She had implied that she had been threatened the last time we spoke, too. If she felt cornered… If they made her feel like staying would endanger Riley…

My jaw locked.

This wasn’t just about heartbreak anymore. This was about survival.

She left to protect her son. Perhaps even to protect me. Because that’s the kind of woman she was.

Which meant she had to believe she couldn’t trust anyone—not even me. Not even her best friend, Rock, knew the truth, judging by his frightened expression.

The realization sliced deep.

I crouched near the edge of the police tape, scanning the ground. Singed grass. Fragments of scorched wood. A metal picture frame, blackened but still intact. Nothing more. No evidence. No signs of what she’d taken or how she’d fled.

But the fire was no accident.

I heard some onlookers discussing the damage nearby in hushed tones. It had started in the center of her apartment. Accelerant used. Intentional.

Premeditated.

She had planned this.

And she hadn’t told me.

Rock approached, his face grim. “I don’t want to say it, man, but… it doesn’t add up.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “It’s not her.”

He nodded. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“She’s alive.”

The words felt unreal even as I spoke them. But the certainty of it thrummed beneath my skin. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, agitated and desperate. That part of me—the feral, primal part—wasn’t grieving. It was searching.

I could still feel her, even if it was faint, like the echo of a heartbeat in another room. She was out there, somewhere, and she was hurting.

“She left a body in her place,” Rock murmured. “That’s... extreme.”

“She thought it was the only way to be free,” I replied, my voice tight. “Cora’s not a killer, though. Whoever was in that apartment—”

“We’ll find out,” Rock said, placing a firm hand on my shoulder.

But even as he spoke, I felt my mind drifting. The idea that she would go so far, risk so much, only made one thing clear: she didn’t plan on being found.

And yet…

Some part of her had to know I would come.

I always came for her.

I pulled out my phone and called Ethan.

“I need your help,” I said.

“Tell me what you need.”

I explained everything to Ethan, and after he recovered from his initial shock, I added, “Put everything we have on it. Pull traffic cams. Witness statements. Credit card activity. Anything that suggests a woman and a child were here, or nearby, in the last twenty-four hours.”

“You got it.”

As he made the calls, I stayed rooted to the spot, staring into the wreckage.

She was alive.

But she thought she had to disappear.

She didn’t know. But how could she not?

She didn’t know I’d tear down the world just to find her.

And I would.

Because almost losing her once had nearly killed me.

Losing her again—not knowing where she was, if she was safe, if Riley was—wasn’t an option.

I would find her.

Even if I had to chase her across the country.

Even if she didn’t want to be found.

Even if she believed it was too late.

It never would be.

Not for her.

Not for us.