His arm slips around my shoulders, pulling me close. He holds me tight, grounding me with the steady warmth of his embrace.
“We’ll get them back,” he murmurs into my hair.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head, then holds my face with both hands. I look up at him.
And I see so many emotions in his eyes, on his face.
Determination. Fear. Worry. Anxiety. And love.
“I never stopped loving you, Emma,” he says, rough and honest. “I want to be there for you. I don’t know if I’ll ever be enough, but I want to give it a try. I want you both. Always.”
I nod, unable to force a single word past the knot in my throat. I feel too sick, too anxious, too terrified, and lost.
But I believe him. And I feel the same.
So I burrow into him, letting him pull me back into his arms.
Somehow, we end up on the couch. I lie with my back pressed to his front, his arms wrapped tight around me.
It feels familiar and new at the same time.
But mostly, it feels like exactly what I need.
Liam’s steady presence, the slow rise and fall of his chest against my spine, is the only thing keeping me tethered to sanity right now.
When a phone rings,I jolt awake.
For a second, I don’t even know where I am—just that my heart is pounding and guilt hits me like a punch.
I fell asleep.
My son is missing. My sister is missing. And I slept.
I bolt upright, breath sharp, anger rising at myself.
Liam’s already answering the call, voice raspy from sleep. “Hello.”
He listens for a moment, then says quietly, “You sure? Yeah… yeah, I know where that is. Okay. Thanks.”
He hangs up and turns to me.
“They think they found a location.”
I’m instantly grabbing a hoodie to pull over my scrubs. “Let’s go, then.”
“Emma,” he says, warning in his tone. “It’s not safe. Let me go. I’ll get the updates, I’ll go to the location, and I’ll call you the second I know anything.”
My stomach drops. “You want me to stay here?”
“I need you to stay here,” he says, stepping closer, palms open like he’s trying to calm a wild animal. “You’ve already beenthrough hell. I don’t want you anywhere near that place. Let me handle it.”
“No.”
The word shreds out of me before I even think. “Liam, absolutely not. That’s my—” my voice breaks, “that’s our son. And Talia. I am not staying behind while you disappear into whatever nightmare they’ve been dragged into.”
His jaw clenches hard, muscle ticking. He looks torn apart by the choice, torn between his protective instinct and the reality of who I am.
“Emma,” he tries again, gentler this time, “if something happens?—”
