Dr. Hart swallowed hard. “This is psychological cruelty,” she said. “Someone wanted her to feel forgotten while she was still breathing.”

Grant stared at the handwriting on one of the envelopes.

Something about the curves and spacing felt familiar.

“Miles didn’t write this,” Grant said. “He wouldn’t even know how.”

Outside, Kade’s tech team traced Miles’s burner phone and found movement toward the mountains.

“A cabin,” Kade reported. “Up in the Angeles National Forest.”

Grant stood, jaw tight.

“Let’s go.”

The Cabin In The Pines

The cabin sat in fog and pine shadows, far from curious eyes.

Grant arrived with Kade’s team and law enforcement forced to pay attention now that the city was watching.

The door came down fast.

Miles was inside, throwing clothes into a bag, shaking so hard he could barely stand.

When he saw Grant, he crumpled to the floor.

“Please,” Miles begged. “I didn’t want this. I didn’t—”

“Where is she?” Grant demanded, the words coming out like thunder.

Miles sobbed. “She’s not here anymore! They moved her!”