Jack POV
My pulse thundered like a war drum as I scanned the wrecked living room, my breath coming in sharp, uneven gasps. The shattered lamp on the floor caught the dim light streaming through the broken window, its shards glinting like jagged teeth. The overturned coffee table lay on its side, one leg snapped clean off. Every detail screamed chaos and violence. Rose was gone. But Ellie—Ellie was still here.
I couldn’t let myself think about what might have happened to Rose right now. Not yet. First, I had to make sure Ellie was safe. My heart stammered painfully in my chest as I sprinted toward the bedroom hallway, calling her name with every ounce of desperation clawing at me. “Ellie?!”
A tiny sniffle answered me from somewhere down the hall. It was faint, almost drowned out by the
