Page 45 of I’ll Find You

Vic leans forward slightly with his attention fixed on me. There’s a brief pause as he carefully chooses his next words. “Now the pattern is back,” he says. “Same type of college women on the same campus. The same victim profile of young women from broken homes or with little family. Even the timings match. They’d go missing during breaks, and people assume they just didn’t come back.”

“Only cleaner this time,” Dani adds. “He’s more controlled.”

Vic nods once. “He’s adapting. There’s fewer mistakes and he’s learning. Evolving, even.”

A chill works its way down my spine. “And you think it’s really him?” I ask, but it doesn’t feel like a question.

Vic exhales slowly, dragging a hand along his jaw. “A year ago, I would’ve said yes without thinking,” he admits. “I would’ve gone with my gut and called it.”

Dani glances at him, something unspoken passing between them, “But I don’t do that anymore,” he continues, looking between Alex and me. “Not when it could put the people I care about at risk.”

His eyes meet mine. “But the details line up. Things that were never released and only the person responsible would know.” The certainty in his voice leaves no room for doubt. “So, yes.”

Dani leans away from her husband and reaches across the counter to clasp and hold my hand that I placed there hoping to ground me to something concrete. “But you need to hear something, Rose.”

I look up at her. “You’re not where you were before,” she continues. “You’re not alone, no matter what he might think.” She glances briefly at Alex. “You’re here, with us.”

Vic nods, his voice lower, but no less certain. “If he’s targeted you, he’s already made a mistake.”

I frown slightly, “What do you mean?”

Vic looks to his son and then back at me. “He thinks you’re unprotected.”

Dani’s fingers tighten around my wrist. “He doesn’t realize,” she adds softly, “that you matter to people who won’t let anything happen to you.”

Their words burrow somewhere deep inside, wrapping me in a blanket of comfort I’ve not felt before. I believe them, and for the first time, I know that I don’t have to face this alone.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

Rose

The unease doesn't fade. If anything, it grows, forming into something restless that grips the edges of my thoughts until I can't ignore it anymore. The question forms before I can stop it.

“If you thought it was him—” I begin, my voice faltering slightly, the question catching somewhere in my throat. I hesitate, not wanting to accuse them of something I don’t fully understand, but desperately needing an answer all the same. “Why didn’t you do anything?”

Vic’s grip tightens, his knuckles whiting around the mug, before seeming to calm himself. His gaze drops, just for a second. He’s choosing his next words. Maybe even debating how much of the truth he wants to disclose. Then he looks back up at me.

“I said something,” he answers, but the look on his face is haunted. Dani looks up at her husband, her expression softening at the way he tries to form his next words. “Not like that,” he continues. “You don’t just throw accusations around without proof. Not against someone from his family or with the kind of money they had.”

“So what did you say?” I press, unable to let it go.

“I told a professor something felt off,” he says. “That the disappearances didn’t make sense. There was always a common denominator involved in this equation. That there was usually an answer to every problem, and this pattern felt like it was leading back to one person.”

“And?”

Vic exhales slowly, something barely restrained in the sound. “I was told to let it go. That I was reading too much into it, that girls leave. That it happens.”

The silence stretches thin between us. It doesn’t sit right with me.

I shake my head, something squeezing around my chest. “That’s it?” I question, no longer keeping the edge out of it. “You just accepted that?”

“We didn’t accept it,” she says gently, looking at Vic. “I wasn’t around at the time. Vic was in medical school. I learned about this all later, but it bothered Vic enough to tell me about it. We never had proof before.”

“But you stopped pushing,” I counter. “If you thought something was wrong—if you really believed it, why let it go?”

Vic’s expression hardens. “Because belief isn’t enough,” he says, but I don’t look away.