“If this is a lie, it ends badly,” Alexander said quietly. “But if it’s true…” He turned sharply. “Get him food. Now. And prepare the car.”
Ethan ate like someone who hadn’t seen a real meal in days, while Alexander watched in silence. Not as a beggar—but as a possible answer.
“Finish up,” Alexander said, grabbing his coat. “You’re taking me to her.”
They left under a gray sky, the city fading from polished streets to broken pavement. Ethan guided the way, pressing his face to the window.
“Over there… past the bridge. Near the abandoned factories.”
The landscape turned bleak—rusted buildings, shattered glass, silence that felt wrong.
They stopped at an old factory, hollow and lifeless.
“She was here,” Ethan said, running ahead. “With the dog.”
Alexander followed, his heart pounding.
“Victoria!” he called. “Victoria!”
Only echoes answered.
Ethan pointed to a corner. “She stayed here.”
There was a plastic bowl… scraps of bread… and then—
A piece of fabric caught between bricks.
Alexander picked it up with trembling hands.
Blue silk. Floral embroidery.
He had given it to her.
He pressed it to his face.
Lavender.
“It’s her…” he whispered, collapsing to his knees.
Then a bark broke the silence.