Cold fear slid through me.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
My stomach sank.
Julia had filed a stalking report against him less than a week earlier. According to Detective Cole, Daniel had been tracking them for months.
“We lost contact with Julia tonight,” he said grimly. “We think she was trying to disappear.”
I glanced through the hospital room window.
Ethan sat perfectly still clutching the blanket with one hand.
“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered.
Detective Cole’s tone softened.
“Stay with him until we get there. Right now, you’re the only adult he trusts.”
So I went back into that room, pulled a chair beside Ethan’s bed, and said quietly:
“I’m not leaving tonight.”
For the first time since I arrived, he looked like he believed someone would stay.
By morning, the hospital room felt like its own strange world made of fluorescent lights, paperwork, and fear.
