Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Rose
The smell of fresh coffee greets me when I walk into the kitchen.
At first, everything feels perfectly ordinary.
It’s the kind of early-morning hush that lingers in a house whose guests aren’t fully awake, though in this case, it feels more like the silence that follows when you’ve just been the topic of conversation.
Alex is already there, sitting on a barstool.
The same one he'd been sitting on months ago when I stood in this kitchen for the first time, reconnecting with his parents and catching my first glimpse of a man who was far too cocky and entirely too self-assured.
He looks up the second I step in. Not like he heard me, but like he sensed me. In the way that two souls recognize each other in every lifetime. Something in his expression changes. It’s subtle, but I recognize it. Because I’ve come to notice everything about this man.
Without a word, he slides off the stool and pulls the one beside him out for me.
A small smile tugs at my lips. “Thank you,” I say softly, meant only for him, although I’m sure it carries farther than I intend.
His mouth lifts at the corner, something unspoken passing between us as he nods and settles back onto the stool beside me.
His stool scrapes against the tiles, moving closer so that his thigh presses lightly against mine.
The contact is intentional and yet not, because I find myself gravitating toward him without thinking.
The warmth from his touch settles beneath my skin, grounding me in a way I didn't realize I needed.
Sitting in his parents' kitchen, miles from everything I've ever called home, leaves me feeling unexpectedly vulnerable.
Somehow, his presence makes it easier to breathe.
Dr. Flores leans casually against the counter, a mug of coffee in his hand as steam curls into the air.
Dani sits beside him, composed and observant, while Ezra slouches nearby, looking as though he just rolled out of bed.
His hair sticks out in every direction, wild and untamed, like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket.
I can't help staring at it. He catches me in the act and winks.
Realization hits, my eyes widening before I quickly look away as warmth creeps up my neck.
Alex's hand settles on my leg, firm and possessive, giving it a subtle squeeze.
Ezra notices immediately and smirks, wisely deciding not to push his luck.
Even so, he has to bite back a laugh, and seeing Alex react this way only seems to amuse him more.
I turn my attention away from them, refusing to give Ezra any more ammunition to use against Alex.
With a roll of his eyes, Dr. Flores cuts straight to it, breaking the tension. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
There’s no point pretending I don’t know what he means. “I—”
Alex cuts me off, blurting out, “We’re together.
” His hand closes around mine on instinct, something he’s been holding back and has suddenly made up his mind he can’t anymore.
I turn to him, my mouth parting in surprise as he looks between his parents and me.
“What?” he says, a little defensive now, seeing the oh, really?
look in his father’s eyes and the shake of his mother’s head.
“I can’t take it anymore. I need to come clean about it. ”
I squeeze his hand, stopping him from trying to explain any further. He looks at me, and I shake my head gently. “Not now, babe.” This seems to ease his mind. He exhales, and then turns back to his dad, who is watching him with an expression that’s far from impressed.
“We'll get to that later,” Dr. Flores says evenly. “But we already know that, Alex.”
Dani smiles widely at me, and I can only manage a shrug in return, the heat in my cheeks rising again, impossible to ignore beneath the weight of all their attention.
Dr. Flores’s gaze sharpens, slicing through the moment and stabbing me straight in the chest with the question I’ve been dreading to talk about. “It’s him, isn’t it? That orthopedic surgeon’s son?” I feel like I can’t breathe.
Beside me, Alex goes ramrod still. “Maxwell.” He says the name like something bitter, his jaw tightening as tension spreads through the room.
I shouldn't. Not here. Not in front of them.
Even though we're adults, I'll always feel like that little girl standing in this kitchen, afraid of overstepping.
But my hand lifts anyway, instinct taking over before thought can catch up.
My fingertips come to rest against his jaw, gently turning his face toward mine.
“Hey,” I murmur, offering him a small smile meant only for him.
The tension releases in his jaw, and his shoulders soften as he searches my eyes.
Whatever he finds there makes him relax.
Then he returns my smile. He exhales, nodding once, the sharp edge of his anger dulling beneath my touch.
I let my hand fall, reluctant to lose the feel of him beneath my fingertips.
“We don’t have proof,” I say, my voice more subdued.
I look away from Alex to Dr. Flores as he tuts his response.
“That’s not what I asked, Rose,” Dr. Flores replies.
His voice is calm, yet unyielding. He won’t let this go until I tell him exactly what he wants to know.
The silence that stretches lasts long enough that I feel the truth rising up from my stomach, pressing around me, feeling the need to purge it.
“Yeah,” I admit, and it finally feels good to get it out. “We think so, anyway.” It’s enough.
I see it in the way Dr. Flores stills, in the subtle tension that radiates from him.
It's not anger. It's something colder that envelops him, the same darkness I've always sensed beneath the surface.
Most people would find it unsettling. I never did.
It follows him like a shadow, a constant reminder of everything he's survived and everything he's willing to become to protect the people he loves.
Somehow, I always knew that whatever lived inside him would only ever be turned toward the people who deserved it.
Toward the real monsters of the world. The ones who hide in plain sight.
The same kind that hurt both him and me.
The ones who betray the people they're supposed to love and protect.
Beside him, Dani breathes out. The sound is barely more than a breath, but it carries something deeper, an understanding of what her husband must be thinking.
When they look at one another, I know there is something far worse than what we thought.
When I look up at her with fear in my eyes for what they are going to reveal, she doesn’t make us wait, as her hand comes to rest against the counter, before she speaks.
Her voice is calm and threaded with certainty.
“We were wondering when he would show himself again.” Her gaze doesn’t leave mine.
“You’re safe now, Rose.” It isn’t just empty words of reassurance, but more like I’ve stepped into a circle that will surround and keep me safe, no matter what comes next.
Vic doesn’t rush into it because he rarely does.
Instead, we all turn to him, wondering what Dani meant by the bomb she just dropped.
Who? He leans back slightly, his fingers wrapped around his coffee mug, his stare fixed somewhere beyond the kitchen, as though he's looking at something only he can see. “It didn’t start here,” he says finally.
Each word is measured, unraveling everything I thought I knew about my college campus.
“Not really,” Dani interjects, moving beside him. Her hand finds his arm, and he nods for her to continue. “There were young women,” she adds, her eyes finding mine, “when Vic was in school there with him.” The room stills around her words.
“They went missing,” Vic continues, picking up where she leaves off. Both finishing each other’s thoughts as if they are of one mind. “It wasn’t enough to cause panic. Just enough to notice if you were paying attention.”
“And most people weren’t,” Dani says, something sad in her voice. “It was easy to explain away back then. Transfers. Runaways. Students without much family or no one they’d look too closely at.”
Vic nods once, his jaw tightening slightly. “There was never proof. Nothing concrete anyway. Just patterns. The kind you only notice when you step back and look at the whole picture.”
My fingers curl in my lap. “And him?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
Vic narrows his eyes into slits. Not at me, but at the memory he is now revisiting in his head.
“He was always there,” he says. “Never close enough to be questioned. Never far enough, though, for it to leave my mind entirely, especially not now that you’ve become wrapped up in my past.”
Dani presses herself against her husband as he hangs his head. “It stopped for a long time,” she says. “Long enough that we hoped we were wrong.”
“But it obviously didn’t,” Vic says, the silence that follows is thick and cloying.
“And now?” I ask, more gently as the realization dawns on me that Maxwell’s dad could actually be capable of this.
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.