The room was silent as she continued, her words spilling out in a tumult of emotion. “I thought if I could just keep him here, give him time to realize what we have… he’d change his mind. But then Anna… she must have overheard me talking to him. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Chief Rivers listened, his mind racing to piece together the story. This wasn’t just a case of a missing person; it was a family unraveling under the weight of desperation and misguided love. As much as Martha’s actions were inexcusable, they were born from a place of fear—a fear of losing her family.
By the time Julian was wheeled out on a stretcher, a frail but grateful smile on his face as he looked at Anna, it was clear that the road to healing would be long and complex. Anna, clutching her teddy bear, watched with wide eyes, too young to fully understand the gravity of what had transpired but sensing the shift in her world.
