Chapter 2

The dock had been sealed off with police tape.

Flashing blue and red lights turned the desolate area into something that looked like broad daylight.

The air smelled of damp salt and sea wind, thick with tension.

A young officer stopped me at the perimeter.

"Ma'am, it's not safe here. Please step back."

"I'm Stella," I said.

The young officer froze for a moment. He'd clearly heard my name before.

Just then, Ethan came striding out from inside.

His expression was grave, his forehead slick with sweat.

"Why did you come anyway?"

"I'm staying." My voice was calm, but firm.

Ethan looked at me for a moment, then stopped trying to talk me out of it.

He just said, "Stay somewhere safe. Take care of yourself."

Then he turned and walked back behind the cordon.

I stood on the other side of the police tape, staring at the crumbling two-story building in the distance.

Vince was in there.

And maybe my sister, too.

My heart was pounding.

I couldn't tell if it was fear or something else.

We stayed like that the entire night.

I leaned against the car, eyes fixed on the building without blinking.

The night was long and cold.

One of the officers brought me a blanket and some hot water. I didn't turn them down.

As dawn began to creep in, the voice coming through the megaphone finally went silent.

Everything went still.

I watched a group of officers in tactical gear move toward the building in formation, slow and deliberate.

My heart leapt into my throat.

The seconds passed by.

Just when I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore, the door to the building swung open.

A man walked out with both hands raised.

It was Vince.

I'd saw his photo so many times that I recognized him instantly.

He looked completely ordinary — average height, nothing remarkable about his face.

And yet this was the man who had taken my sister.

The officers rushed him, forced him to the ground, and snapped the cuffs on his wrists.

It was over.

I felt every ounce of strength drain out of me. My knees buckled, and I nearly fell.

Ethan walked toward me with long, quick strides.

There was a look of pure relief on his face.

"Stella, it's over." He caught me. "We got him."

I looked at him, and the tears came all at once.

Three years of grief, of pain, of hopelessness — all of it released in that moment.

"Where's my sister…" I choked out.

"Don't worry. Our people are searching inside right now. Vince says she's somewhere safe — no immediate danger." Ethan tried to comfort me. "It's all over. You can start new life now."

I nodded, crying too hard to speak.

The officers walked Vince past me.

He was wearing a filthy set of work clothes, his hair a mess, his face completely blank.

I stared at him, burning every detail of his face into my memory.

That's him. This monster.

Then, just as he passed me, he suddenly turned his head and looked right at me.

The corner of his mouth curled into a deeply unsettling smile.

In a voice barely above a breath — quiet enough that only I could hear — he said:

"She really loved you. Right up until the end, she was begging me not to tell anyone that you were the one who planned all of this."

My crying stopped dead.

It felt like the blood in my veins had turned to ice.

I stood there in a daze as they loaded him into the squad car and watched it speed away.

Every sound around me disappeared.

Ethan's voice, the officers talking, the sound of the waves — all of it gone.

There was only one sentence left in my head.

"You were the one who planned all of this."

What did that mean?

What was he talking about?

This couldn't be real.

"Stella? What's wrong? Why do you look so pale?"

Ethan's worried voice pulled me back.

I looked at him. My mouth opened, but no words came out.

An overwhelming wave of fear and confusion closed around me like a net, pulling tight.

My world — the moment we caught him — completely fell apart.