KAEL
The next twelve hours crawled by like years.
I watched surveillance feeds until the images blurred together. Drank coffee that had gone cold hours ago. Fielded calls from FBI agents who wanted to "coordinate" and politicians who'd heard about the kidnapping through their networks.
Olivia showed up.
I heard her before I saw her, the sound of crying, desperate and broken. Ash was trying to comfort her, but Olivia pushed past everyone until she found me.
"Please." Her face was blotchy from tears, her eyes red and swollen. "Please find her. Please."
I stood, catching her as she nearly collapsed. "Olivia..."
"She's my sister." The words came out in gasps between sobs. "She's all I have. Kaleb keeps asking when Aria is coming home and I don't know what to tell him."
Her pain cut through my own haze of exhaustion and fear.
"I will find her," I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. "I promise you, Olivia. I won't stop until she's home."
