hapter 107: Kaiden 

Chapter 107: Kaiden 

Kaiden’s POV 

Selena’s face was a portrait of pure terror, her wide eyes glistening with unshed tears, her mouth trembling as she pressed herself tighter against the wall like she could disappear into it. 

Her chest heaved with shallow, frantic breaths, every muscle in her body locked in frozen fear. 

The raw panic etched across her features wasn’t just guilt anymore – it was dread. 

Dread of me. 

My hand balled into a tight fist before I could stop myself, the knuckles whitening under the strain. 

Every nerve screamed for release, for some way to vent the boiling rage that threatened to tear me apart from the inside out. Before I even realized what I was doing, I drew my arm back, the motion swift and reckless, ready to drive my fist straight into her face. 

Selena let out a broken whimper, flinching, her hands instinctively flying up to shield herself – but my fist froze in mid–air. 

Time seemed to grind to a halt. 

Lucy’s face flashed before my eyes 

her laughter, her stubborn little frown, the way she always looked at me like I was 

more than the screw–up everyone else saw. 

The thought of her scared, alone, hurt hit me harder than any blow could have. 

Breathing heavily through my nose, I fought the monstrous urge clawing at me, the need to lash out, to punish. No Kaiden. Not Lucy’s mom. Even if she the evil mom. Still, don’t. 

My arm trembled, the restraint costing me more strength than throwing the punch ever would have. 

For a long, blistering second, I hovered there, locked in a brutal battle with myself. 

Then, slowly, with every ounce of control I had left, I forced my fist down. 

I ripped my hands away from Selena, stepping back as if she burned me. 

My heart thundered in my ears, my jaw clenched so tightly it hurt. 

Selena sagged against the wall the moment I released her, her knees almost buckling in weak relief. 

She gasped for breath, her shoulders trembling as she slid halfway down the wall, like the tension snapping out of her all at 

once. 

She clutched at her chest, like she couldn’t believe she was still breathing. 

Her terrified gaze flicked up to me – hesitant, cautious as if she was afraid I would change my mind any second. 

But I wasn’t looking at her anymore. 

I wasn’t thinking about her anymore. 

There was only one thing that mattered now. 

Lucy. 

And I was running out of time. 

My hands shook as I yanked out my phone, barely managing to hit the right contact. 

– 

The line rang once twice before a clipped voice answered, “ACP Derek Klein.” 

“It’s me Kaiden Sterwalt and I need you to listen to me,” I barked into the speaker, my voice raw with barely suppressed fury. “Lucy Hailstone. My step–sister. She is missing. And I think Ross Franklin has something to do with it.” 

There was a brief pause on the other end, static crackling faintly, before Derek asked, steady but cautious, “How long has she been gone?” 

I raked a hand through my hair, pacing furiously down the empty hall, my mind spinning in a thousand directions. “I don’t know!” I snapped, frustration bleeding into every word. “Let’s say… two hours?” 

The sigh that came through the phone was heavy, almost patronizing. “Kaiden, we can’t investigate like that,” Derek said, his tone calm but firm. “Protocol says we need twenty–four hours before officially filing a missing persons report. And here you’re not even sure how long she’s been gone.” 

My blood boiled at his words. 

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from screaming, but it didn’t work. 

“To hell with your protocols!” I snarled into the receiver. “I don’t care what the damn rules say. You either find her 

or I swear to God, I’ll burn the whole goddamn West Sterlingo to ashes!” 

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Chapter 107 Kaiden 

There was silence for a beat, and then Derek’s voice softened just enough to not sound like he was provoking a rabid dog. ” Calm down, Kaiden. I get it. I’ll see what I can do. We’ll start looking… unofficially.” 

Without waiting for another word, I ended the call with a vicious stab of my thumb. 

The screen cracked under the pressure, but I didn’t care. 

Nothing mattered right now except finding Lucy. 

Because sitting around doing nothing would have driven me insane – I decided to search the entire school myself. What if I can get any clue? 

The hallways stretched endlessly before me, empty and hollow, the harsh fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. 

My footsteps echoed loudly off the floors, each one sounding like a gunshot in the suffocating silence. 

I yanked open every classroom door, shoved into every utility closet, stormed through the library, the gymnasium, even the faculty lounge – but found nothing. 

No signs of her. 

No traces. 

Only the distant hum of the cleaning crew dragging their carts and mops along the deserted corridors. 

I cornered them one by one, asking – no, demanding – if they had seen a girl matching Lucy’s description. 

A few shook their heads without meeting my eyes; others looked genuinely puzzled, their arms full of cleaning supplies. 

“Are you sure?” I pressed, my voice rough, almost desperate. “Short girl, brown hair… green eyes… she would’ve been alone.” But all I got were shrugs and murmured apologies. 

The longer I searched, the heavier the walls seemed to close in around me, the more the crushing weight of dread pressed against my chest. 

The building, so familiar and stupidly safe all these years, now felt like a monstrous labyrinth – swallowing Lucy whole, laughing at my helplessness. 

I leaned against the nearest wall, breathing hard, staring blankly down the lifeless, empty corridor. 

Lucy was gone. 

And I had no idea where to even begin. 

After my short investigation at the school, now it was time to investigate outside of it. May be some neighboring shops saw something useful. 

As I and Selena reached the front gates of the school, my phone vibrated violently in my pocket. 

The shrill ring nearly made me jump out of my skin. 

Snatching it out with a jerk, I answered without checking the caller ID, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Yeah?!” 

It was Derek again. His voice came through sharp and urgent, no longer calm. “Kaiden, listen. We checked into Ross Franklin like you asked.” 

I stopped dead in my tracks, the late evening wind biting into my skin. 

“And?” I snapped, my fingers clenching tight around the phone. 

“He was bailed out recently,” Derek said grimly. “He’s out on parole… but-” he added, voice dropping lower, “-he’s wearing a court–mandated ankle monitor. A tracing bracelet.” 

I gritted my teeth, my mind already racing ahead. “I know what that is. So? Where the hell is he?” 

There was a pause 

– 

a pause so loaded it made my stomach turn. 

“That’s the thing,” Derek finally said. “We pulled his real–time tracker feed. His bracelet… it’s pinging somewhere very close to West Sterling High.” 

It felt like a cold hand gripped the back of my neck. The hairs there stood on end, a chill racing down my spine so fast I staggered back a step. 

My gut twisted violently, screaming at me to move – to act – to do something. 

“Be careful, Kaiden,” Derek added quickly. “We’re dispatching a unit, but until then-” 

I didn’t wait to hear the rest. 

My eyes darted around wildly, scanning the darkening street, the stretches of empty sidewalk, the rows of parked cars that 

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Chapter 107. Kaiden 

suddenly seemed too still–too staged. 

And then I saw him. 

Across the street, leaning casually against a rusted streetlight like he belonged to the shadows, stood a figure. 

Long dark coat. 

Baseball cap pulled low over his brow. 

Face partly hidden in the collar of his jacket. 

Sunglasses even though the sun had already sunk behind the buildings. 

Every inch of him screamed incognito. 

Every part of me screamed danger. 

Our eyes met – or at least, I felt them meet even through the distance and the barriers he wore to conceal himself. My fists clenched so tightly my knuckles cracked audibly. 

I felt the blood roar in my ears, my entire body locking onto him like a predator spotting prey. 

That must be him. That’s him. That’s Ross. 

That was the only word burning in my mind. 

Without thinking twice, I shoved the phone into my pocket, muscles coiling, heart pounding so loud it drowned out the world. 

I was going to get Lucy back. 

Whatever it took. 

To be continued… 

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