Chapter 1

The third year after my sister went missing, I finally found the man who had kidnapped her.

With the help of the police, we cornered him at an abandoned dock.

After a standoff that lasted through the night, he ran out of strength and was successfully captured.

The officer told me it was all over — that my sister would be rescued soon.

But just as the suspect was being walked past me, he leaned close and said, in a voice only the two of us could hear: "She truly loved you. Until her dying breath, She begged me not to reveal that you were the one who planned all of this ."

I had been searching for my sister Aurora Blackwood for three years.

In those three years, I went from being an ordinary freelance illustrator to the most unusual "outside consultant" in the police department's files.

Everyone called me a hero — for the efforts I'd gone to in order to find my sister, and for the kind of sharp instincts I'd shown along the way, instincts that even the detectives found remarkable.

The lead investigator was the deputy captain of the city's criminal investigation unit. His name was Ethan.

When he first met me, his eyes held that practiced look of sympathy and reassurance.

But now, he called me directly whenever he hit a wall on the case.

"Stella, we've run into another dead end."

That shift had come down to two small things.

The first happened six months ago.

The police had obtained an extremely blurry surveillance photo. It only caught the corner of the suspect's vehicle — you couldn't even make out the license plate.

The case stalled for over two weeks.

I zoomed in on the photo until the pixels completely fell apart, and I stared at it for an entire day.

Finally, in a flash of reflection off the car window, I spotted a logo on a takeout box.

It was a fast-food chain that only delivered to three districts on the west side of the city.

I told Ethan.

"We already searched the west side. Nothing turned up." His voice was exhausted.

"No — you only checked the main roads and residential areas," I said. "Look into every abandoned factory and warehouse in that zone, especially any that a car could drive straight into."

Ethan was quiet for a few seconds. Then he said, "Understood."

Three days later, they found more discarded evidence near an abandoned printing plant — evidence linked to the suspect.

The search area narrowed significantly.

From that day on, Ethan started actually listening to me.

The second thing happened about a month ago.

I was going through my sister's spending records — something I did every month, hoping to catch something unusual.

For the first two-plus years, I found nothing.

But this time, I spotted an easily overlooked record.

A week before Aurora disappeared, she had purchased a fairly expensive set of printmaking inks.

Everyone had glossed over it. Aurora was a painter — buying art supplies was completely normal.

But I knew something no one else did: my sister hadn't touched printmaking for five years.

She thought it was too much work, and it always got her hands dirty.

I immediately thought of a place.

An arts village on the outskirts of the city. Back in college, Aurora had rented a small studio there specifically for printmaking classes.

I sent the address to Ethan.

"What's significant about this place?"

"My sister used to paint there in college. She never went back after she graduated. But those inks — they're a niche brand that's only sold at that arts village."

"You're saying she went there before she disappeared?"

"Go check it out," I said.

Ethan moved fast.

They searched the long-abandoned studio and found traces left behind on the day my sister vanished.

And one more thing — another person's fingerprints.

Those fingerprints belonged to a man named Vince.

He had a prior record for theft and assault.

At last, they had their suspect.

When Ethan called to tell me, there was a hint of relief in his voice.

"Stella," he said, "your instincts and your intelligence have been the key to cracking this case. You're sharper than a lot of people who went through the police academy."

I was standing at the window when he said that.

The sky outside was gray — the same gray that had settled over my life for the past three years.

"I just want to find my sister," I said.

"Soon," Ethan said. "We've got a lock on Vince's movements. He's not going anywhere."

Last night, Ethan called again.

"Stella, we've got him cornered — at an abandoned dock. It looks like he may have a hostage. It's dangerous. Do not come down here."

I didn't listen.

I grabbed my jacket and ran out the door.

I had to see it with my own eyes. I had to watch him get caught.

That bastard I'd been hunting for three years.

That monster who had taken my sister and destroyed my life.

I had to watch them put the handcuffs on him.

It was the only thing keeping me going.