Chapter 18 Finding my daughter
Marcus Ashford’s POV
The forest was too quiet. I heard my own breathing louder than the wind. Terry walked beside me but kept glancing over like he was afraid I would break.
I would not break. Not until I found her.
I stopped at the shattered bridge railing and crouched. The sight hit me again. The dry stain. The dark smear. Selene’s blood. My chest tightened until my hands shook.
Terry's voice came out careful. Terry was my partner, we have caught way too many bad guys as a team.
“Marcus. Do you want a minute?”
“No.” I touched the edge of the stain with the back of my knuckle. “Tell me again. Who found this first?”
“Mira’s team,” he answered. “She was still examining the area.”
“Call her.”
Terry signaled her over. Mira approached fast, her boots crunching leaves. She knelt across from me and lowered her voice.
“It was definitely Selene’s,” she said. “That was confirmed.”
“Show me the footage again.”
Mira handed Terry the device. He pulled up the clip. I watched it for the tenth time that day. Selene walking with Brielle. The two girls did not speak. Selene kept touching her sleeve, a nervous habit she had had since she was young. Brielle looked back over her shoulder twice. The second time her jaw tightened.
They stepped onto the bridge.
Then the screen became static. Nothing. Just the sound of distortion and a black smear.
I stared at the frozen image. “This was not an accident.”
Terry hesitated. “We could not prove that.”
“Then I would,” I said.
Mira looked up sharply. “You think someone tampered with it.”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Why would they do that” Mira asked.
I straightened. “Because whoever did this did not want us to know what happened on this bridge.”
Terry shifted. “Marcus. If Selene fell into the river…”
“She did not fall.” My voice came out harder than I intended. I stood, brushed dirt from my hands, and looked at the railing again. “This damage was forced. Someone grabbed her.”
“You can tell that from one look” Rowan asked.
“I could tell because I know my daughter,” I said.
The others fell silent.
I turned to Mira. “You said something else looked strange along the bank. Show me.”
She nodded and led the way down a narrow path. She stopped beside a cluster of rocks by the river. “This caught my eye. Marks. They were not natural.”
I knelt again. The grooves were sharp and deliberate. Someone had carved them recently. I brushed my fingers across the soil and felt something hum beneath the surface. A faint pulse. Subtle. Familiar.
Terry crouched beside me. “Do you know what it means?”
“No,” I lied.
Mira studied me. She was too perceptive for her own good. “It meant something to you.”
“It meant the person who took Selene wanted me to know they were here,” I said. “That was enough.”
Mira exchanged a glance with Rowan but did not push further.
I stood and looked out across the river. The current was sluggish that day. Nothing was drifting. Nothing floating. Nothing that looked like a girl who should have been home doing her homework instead of bleeding against a bridge.
My voice lowered. “Selene. Why did you come out here?”
Terry broke the silence. “Marcus. You should talk to Lila.”
He was right. I did not want to. But I turned and walked back toward the search camp.
When I reached the medical tent Lila was sitting on a folding chair. She had a blanket around her shoulders and her hands covering her mouth. When she saw me she rose quickly.
“Did you find anything?”
“Not enough,” I said.
Her voice cracked. “What about the blood? Was it really hers?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes and turned away from me. “Oh goddess.”
I went to her and took her hands. “Listen to me. This did not mean she is gone.”
“How could you say that?” she whispered. “Marcus, she was just a girl. She was human. She would not survive out here alone.”
My heart lurched. “She was not just a girl.”
Lila opened her eyes fast. “Marcus. Not here.”
“No one was listening,” I said quietly. I lowered my voice even more. “Something was happening to her. Something she did not understand. Someone else knew it.”
Lila shook her head. “I told you this would happen if people found out.”
“They did not find out,” I said. “They sensed it. The same way I did.”
Lila stepped back. “Marcus. Do not use any of that. I mean it.”
I held her gaze. “If I needed to find our daughter, I would use whatever I had.”
Before she could answer Terry rushed toward us. His expression was tight. “Marcus. We had a problem.”
“Another one,” I muttered. “What now”
“It was Brielle,” he said. “We could not find her either.”
Lila covered her mouth. “No. Not both girls.”
I already felt it. This was not random. Two girls did not simply vanish. One of them lured the other out. And someone made sure neither returned.
“Where was she last seen?” I asked.
“In the east forest,” Terry said. “The trackers lost the scent.”
“Bring everyone back,” I said. “We focus on Selene first.”
Lila looked at me, eyes wide and wet. “You think Brielle was involved.”
“I do not know,” I said truthfully. “But Selene trusted her enough to follow her.”
Lila pressed her hands to her stomach. “Then find her. Please.”
I nodded. “I would.”
Mira ran over to us again. “Marcus. I checked the first camera. The one before the bridge.”
“What did you find?”
She held out the device. “There was one second of corrupted footage that was not corrupted before. Someone added it.”
“Added it,” Terry repeated.
“Yes,” Mira said. “Look.”
She played the single second. It was a brief flash. A silhouette in the background. A tall figure standing behind the trees. Watching. Waiting.
Terry frowned. “Who was that?
“I do not know,” Mira said.
But I did. My stomach turned from realizing that the threat was near.
Lila looked at me carefully. “Marcus. What was it?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
Because I could not tell her that the figure in that frame looked like someone I hoped I would never see again. Someone who should have been impossible.
Terry tapped the screen. “Do you recognize him?"
I took a breath. “No.”
Mira watched my face. She did not believe me.
Terry sighed. “We should call in more search teams.”
“We would,” I said. “But I was going back to the bridge first.”
Lila grabbed my arm. “Why?”
“Just trust me.”
She released me slowly. I walked past Terry, Mira, and the other wolves. Their murmurs followed me across the clearing.
When I reached the bridge again the sun was lower and the air colder. I stood where Selene had last stood and closed my eyes.
“Selene,” I whispered. “Where did you go?”
Then something soft. A shift in the breeze. A faint pressure behind my eyes. A sensation I had not felt in years.
The gift I swore I would never use again pushed at the edges of my mind. It wanted to open. It wanted to pull the truth to the surface.
I took a slow breath.
“No,” I whispered. “Not yet.”
But the moment I stepped back from the railing, I heard Terry shouting from the path.
“Marcus. You needed to see this. Now.”
I turned as he reached me, panting hard.
“What was it?”
“It was Selene’s phone.”
My heart stopped. “Where?”
“In the trees,” he said. “And it was still on.”
I started walking.
Terry grabbed my sleeve. “We found it with a voice message.”
“From who?” I questioned.
He swallowed.“From Selene.”
I froze. Everything inside me went silent.
Terry held the phone out to me.
“Marcus,” he said softly. “You should hear it first.”
I took the phone. And just as I pressed play the screen went black.