Chapter 2: The Woman Who Disappeared
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
It felt like twelve hours.
Evan sat in the corner of the diner with his hands on the table while two officers questioned him. He kept saying the same thing.
“She’s my niece.””
Nobody believed him.
Not after the way the little girl hid from him.
Not after the way he looked at her like she was an inconvenience instead of a child.
I sat in the booth with the girl wrapped in a blanket Linda had brought from the back room.
“What’s your name?”” I asked.
She looked down at the table.
“Emma.””
“Emma what?””
She hesitated.
Then she whispered:
“Emma Rose.””
My chest tightened.
Rose.
Of course.
Even after eight years, she was still leaving pieces of herself behind.
“Emma, how old are you?””
“Six.””
“Where do you live?””
She looked toward the window.
“Usually with Mom.””
“Usually?””
Her fingers twisted together.
“Sometimes we move.””
“Why?””
She didn’t answer.
Kids don’t know how to explain fear.
They just carry it.
Officer Daniels approached our booth.
“Cole.””
I looked up.
He was a broad man with tired eyes and a voice that always sounded like he had just woken up.
“Evan’s story doesn’t add up.””
I nodded.
“Figured.””
“He claims Rose abandoned the child.””
The name hit me again.
“Rose didn’t abandon anyone.””
Daniels studied my face.
“You know her?””
I looked at Emma.
She was drawing something on a napkin.
A house.
A woman.
A little girl.
And a wolf.
“I knew her.””
Daniels pulled out a chair.
“Then you need to tell me everything.””
I stared at the floor.
Everything.
That was the problem.
How could I explain Rose without explaining the parts of myself I had buried?
Eight years earlier, Rose Carter was the only person who ever looked at me and didn’t see a biker.
She saw Cole.
The man underneath.
We met when I was twenty-nine and angry at the world.
My younger brother had died in a motorcycle accident, and after that, I stopped caring about much.
I rode.
I worked.
I fought.
Then one rainy night, I walked into a small bookstore and saw a woman sitting behind the counter reading with a flashlight because the power had gone out.
She looked up at me.
Most people looked away.
She smiled.
“You’re dripping water all over my floor.””
I remember laughing.
Nobody talked to me like that.
“I’ll buy you a mop.””
She closed the book.
“I don’t need a mop. I need customers who know how to remove their jackets before coming inside.””
That was Rose.
Brave.
Funny.
Impossible.
Three years later, we were planning a wedding.
Then one night, she vanished.
No goodbye.
No note.
No explanation.
Just gone.
I searched everywhere.
The only thing I found was my wolf patch cut from an old jacket she had kept.
And a message.
*Don’t look for me.*
I hated her for that.
For years.
But sitting beside her daughter, I realized something.
Rose wasn’t running away from me.
She was running toward protecting someone.
Emma.
“What happened after she disappeared?”” Daniels asked.
I looked at him.
“I never knew.””
Emma suddenly stopped drawing.
“Mom said you would think she left because she didn’t love you.””
I froze.
Daniels looked between us.
“What did she say?””
Emma squeezed the napkin.
“She said you would be angry.””
My throat tightened.
“Did she tell you about me?””
The girl nodded.
“She said you were the safest person she knew.””
I looked away.
Because those words hurt more than any accusation.
The safest person she knew.
And I hadn’t been there when she needed me.
Outside, thunder rolled across the sky.
The officer stood.
“We need to take Emma somewhere safe tonight.””
“No.””
The word came out before I could stop it.
Daniels frowned.
“Cole.””
“I mean…”
I looked at Emma.
She was staring at me.
Like she already knew I was going to say it.
“She stays with me.””
The room went quiet.
Daniels sighed.
“You understand this is complicated.””
“I understand.””
“You have no legal connection to her.””
“I know.””
“And Rose is missing.””
I nodded.
“Then find Rose.””
Daniels looked at me carefully.
“You really think she’s alive?””
I looked at the phone message still saved on my screen.
The one from Rose.
The one impossible message.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Because Rose had once told me something.
Something I thought was just a romantic promise.
But now it sounded like a warning.
I stood and picked up my jacket.
“Because if Rose wanted me to forget her…”
I looked at Emma.
“She never would have taught her daughter about the wolf.””
Later that night, Emma slept in the spare room of my house.
I sat outside on the porch, staring at my motorcycle.
The same bike I rode the night Rose disappeared.
The same bike I almost sold a hundred times.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?””
Silence.
Then a woman’s breathing.
My heart stopped.
“Rose?””
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then a whisper came through.
“Cole…”
I stood so fast the chair fell backward.
“Where are you?””
Her voice shook.
“I’m sorry.””
“Rose, where is Emma?””
A pause.
“She found you?””
“Yes.””
Another pause.
Longer.
Full of fear.
Then Rose said the words that made my entire body go cold.
“Cole, listen to me carefully.””
I gripped the phone.
“What?””
“Emma cannot stay with you.””
“Why?””
Because I heard something behind her.
A door opening.
A man’s voice.
And then Rose whispered:
“They already know where you live.””
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Then slowly looked toward my dark driveway.
A shadow moved near the trees.
May you like
Someone was watching my house.
Someone who knew exactly where the wolf had returned.
