Jack’s POV
The Carter Ranch stood quiet and untouched, just like I remembered. It was a place frozen in time—far from the cameras, the reporters, the scandals. But not far enough. The isolation here offered no real sanctuary; it merely postponed the inevitable storm that would follow us wherever we went. Still, for now, there was peace—a fragile, fleeting kind of calm.
Ellie jumped out of the SUV first, her small boots crunching over patches of dried grass and ice. Her face lit up as she turned in a slow circle, taking in the wide-open land stretching beyond the house. The horizon seemed endless, framed by rolling hills and sparse trees standing like sentinels against the winter sky. She spun faster, her laughter ringing out into the crisp air, breaking the silence that had settled ove
