CHAPTER SIX
Lennox
A
very’s been missing for over a month.
Thirty-four days, to be exact. Thirty-four days of waking up to the same crushing weight on my chest, like grief had set up camp there and refused to leave. Thirty-four mornings of fear chewing through my insides like it had nowhere better to be. Thirty-four days of imagining every possible nightmare scenario, each one worse than the last. I don’t know if my mind is torturing me more than reality, but the not knowing is a slow, suffocating death.
The police had combed every inch of her place and turned up nothing. No fingerprints that weren’t already accounted for, no foreign DNA, no witnesses. The roses led nowhere. The cards were typed—no handwriting to trace, no clues to follow. Just a twisted version of 'roses are red' that’s been haunting us ever since. The blood we found was all Avery’s, but that only made things worse. That meant she was injured when they took her. That meant she fought. That meant whoever took her had no hesitation about hurting her.
When we broke the news to her dad, he came unhinged. No hesitation, no waiting for instructions—just sheer, unfiltered panic. He stormed onto her property, demanding answers from the police, cursing everyone within earshot, and making it clear that if they weren’t moving fast enough, he’d do it himself. In the weeks since, he’s learned to work with the authorities rather than against them. We all have. It’s the only way we’ll find her.
Roman’s barely holding it together, trying to keep the café afloat with her gone. He’s the only manager left, and it’s obvious he’s drowning. I stop by at least once a day, even if it’s just to sit at the counter while he pretends to have his shit together. We all take turns checking in on him, knowing damn well he’s just as wrecked as we are.
Jaxton has thrown himself into search parties and using his fame to keep Avery’s face on every news station, every social media platform, every missing person’s bulletin. He’s relentless, refusing to let the world forget her, refusing to let whoever took her think they’ve won.
Kamden let his Executive Chef run his restaurants so he could be here full-time. He’s stepped up in ways I didn’t think possible—coordinating with private investigators, bribing the right people for information, making sure none of us completely fall apart.
Liam’s always been the quiet storm—hard to read, even for someone who’s known him since the womb. He’s locked himself into an ironclad exterior, playing the role of Jaxton’s backbone, but I know my twin. He’s breaking. Just like the rest of us.
And me? I’m barely hanging on. My mind won’t shut off, won’t stop playing scenes in my head—what could be happening to her, where she could be, what she could be enduring. I can’t decide if imagining it is worse than reality, but every day that passes without her, I feel myself slipping further into my own head. I keep thinking about that fan, the one who drugged me, how easy it was for her to take control. I was out for hours. What if Avery’s going through something worse? What if she’s scared, alone, wondering if we’ve given up on her?
We haven’t. We never will.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve gotten closer to Avery’s dad, Dan, and the friends who circle around him like a second family. We go to his place to throw burgers on the grill, staying late into the night, telling stories about Avery, keeping her spirit alive. It’s one of the only ways we can be sure we all remember to eat. It’s one of the only times we feel like she’s still here.
We feel closest to her when we’re outside.
I sit on her back porch now, staring out at the landscape she worked so hard to create. The koi pond she never got to finish, the flower beds she swore she’d plant this summer. The unfinished dream she left behind.
The sun is setting, casting streaks of orange and purple across the sky, but all I see is her. I can hear her laugh in the wind, can picture her rolling her eyes as she catches Liam and Jaxton arguing over something stupid, can feel the warmth of her body pressed against mine.
The beer in my hand sweats against my palm, condensation pooling in tiny droplets along the dark glass. I twist the bottle absentmindedly, staring out into the night, the stillness of the yard pressing down on me. The moon hangs heavily above, casting long shadows across the lawn. It should be peaceful. It should be a moment of quiet. Instead, it’s just another reminder that Avery isn’t here. That she’s somewhere out there, and we don’t know if she’s safe, or—
I stop the thought before it can take root, pressing the bottle to my lips and swallowing back the bile rising in my throat. The dark thoughts creep in too easily these days, slipping through the cracks when I let my guard down. I can’t afford that—not now, not when she needs us to be strong.
Footsteps crunch over the gravel behind me. I don’t have to turn to know it’s Liam. His presence is a force of its own, a weight that settles next to me as he drops into the chair beside mine, stretching his legs out in front of him. He doesn't say anything right away, just twists the cap off his beer and takes a slow pull, letting the silence settle between us. It’s how we work. Words don’t always come easy, but the understanding is there. We’re both messed up right now, drowning in the same storm, but we’re keeping each other afloat the only way we know how.
After a minute, Liam exhales sharply, resting his forearms on his thighs, bottle dangling between his fingers. “You holding up?”
I huff a humorless laugh. “What do you think?”
He nods, not pushing for a sugar-coated answer. “Yeah. Same.”
We lapse into silence again, watching the dark horizon, both of us waiting for something—anything—to break the stillness. A car pulling up with news, a phone call, a goddamn miracle. But there’s nothing. Just the rustling of leaves and the distant chirp of crickets.
“She’s out there,” Liam finally says, his voice quiet but firm. “We’re gonna find her.”
“I know.” I say it because I have to, because letting doubt fester is a weakness we can’t afford.
Liam takes another sip of his beer, then shifts in his seat, his expression tightening. “Sarah stopped by again.”
My grip on my bottle tightens. “The fuck does she want now?”
“Same bullshit as before,” Liam mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “Acting all concerned, talking about how she wants to help. Offering to boost the search on her social media, like she actually gives a shit.”
I grind my teeth, my jaw aching from the pressure. “She’s been trying to weasel her way back in since this started. She’s using Avery’s disappearance to get close to us again.”
Liam nods, his expression hard. “It’s fucking sick.”
That’s the thing about Sarah. She knows how to manipulate, how to sink her claws in and twist, pretending to be the supportive, concerned ex when all she really wants is to see if there’s a crack in our armor. She wants in. Wants to be the shoulder we lean on. But we’re not falling for it. Not this time.
“She called earlier too,” Liam adds, his voice tight with frustration. “I let it go to voicemail, but she left a message. Saying she understands what we’re going through, that she’s here for us if we need anything.”
“Yeah? She can shove her ‘support’ right up her ass.”
Liam chuckles, but there’s no humor in it. “Kamden almost lost it when she showed up at the news conference the other night. Had to be dragged into the back before he said something that would’ve made the highlights.”
“Good,” I mutter, swirling the last of my beer in the bottle before setting it down with a little too much force. “She deserves to be put in her place.”
Liam sighs, rolling the bottle between his palms. “She’s not gonna stop, Lenn. Not until she realizes there’s nothing here for her.”
“She never should’ve had anything here to begin with.”
Liam nods slowly, then tips his bottle back, draining the last of his beer. I follow suit, the liquid bitter on my tongue, but doing nothing to wash away the frustration clawing at my chest.
After a minute, he pushes up from his chair, stretching his arms over his head. “Come on, let’s head inside. See what Jax and Kam are up to.”
I hesitate, my gaze lingering on the dark expanse of the yard. “Liam, we’re going to find her.”
Liam doesn’t respond right away. He follows my line of sight, his jaw tightening. Then he claps a hand on my shoulder, squeezing firmly. “Then we’ll bring her home.”
The conviction in his voice is enough to shake me loose from the grip of my own thoughts. I nod, pushing to my feet, and follow him inside.
Jaxton and Kamden are in the kitchen, bent over the table with a laptop and a pile of papers. They glance up as we walk in, exhaustion written all over their faces.
“Anything?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.
Jax shakes his head, his jaw tight. “Nothing new.”
Kamden exhales heavily, rubbing a hand over his face. “Police are still following leads, but they’re coming up dry. No real sightings, no new evidence.”
The cards were typed—no handwriting to analyze, nothing to trace. The roses? Never ordered through a florist. No receipts, no witnesses, no record of who dropped them off. Whoever delivered them likely was the kidnapper. Avery’s neighbors live close, but not close enough. Their long driveways and tree-lined lots blocked any view that might’ve caught something—anything—out of the ordinary that night. But there was nothing. No flicker of headlights, no strange car parked along the curb. Just silence. And emptiness. Like she vanished into thin air, and the trail disappeared with her.
I drop into a chair, my stomach twisting. “Feels like we’re just spinning our wheels.”
Jax slams a fist against the table, rattling the papers. “We’re not giving up.”
“No one’s saying that,” Liam says calmly, grabbing another round of beers from the fridge. “We’re just… frustrated.”
Kamden nods, accepting the beer Liam hands him. “We need to get some fresh eyes on this. Maybe a PI. Someone who can dig into things the cops can’t.”
Jax’s eyes darken with determination. “I’ll make some calls.”
We fall into a tense silence, the weight of the situation pressing down on all of us.
Finally, Liam breaks it with a deep breath. “She’s out there, waiting for us to find her.”
I grip my beer, nodding. “Then we keep looking.”
No matter how long it takes, no matter what we have to do.
We’re bringing Avery home.