CHAPTER 204

**WINTER**

I felt it before I could name it—
A cold dread rising like a tide, goosebumps sweeping across my skin, a shiver chasing down my spine.

Ethan.

The boy who’d tried to force himself on me.

The one whose name still haunted my sleep.
The same night he disappeared without a single trace.

Zion’s entire body went rigid.

His jaw clenched so tightly I swore I heard his teeth grind, and his hands—fists now—were trembling at his sides, every knuckle bone-white.

“Fuck,” he growled, voice low and venomous.

His eyes snapped to the boys—Ro, Clark, Harry—and the room practically vibrated with the weight of what wasn’t being said.

There was something sharp in the silence, dangerous in the way they looked at each other.

Harry shifted, his jaw tight, frustration flashing in his eyes.

“We’ve been fucking looking, Z,” he snapped, voice low but seething.

“You think we’ve been sitting on our asses? We’ve turned over every damn lead, chased shadows, hit dead end after dead end.”

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling hard.

“There’s nothing. No sightings, no trace, no goddamn whisper. It’s like he vanished off the face of the earth.”

Zion exploded.

“It’s been fucking weeks!” he snarled, voice razor-edged.

“And you mean to tell me not one of you can track down one fucking lowlife piece of shit?!”

Ro’s chair scraped back as he stood, arms tense at his sides.

“Yeah, and it’s driving us fucking insane. People don’t just disappear like that unless they’ve got help—or a fucking reason.”

His eyes burned as they flicked between Zion and Harry.

“Every time we think we’re close, it slips through our fingers. And you know what? I don’t buy the whole ‘disappeared’ bullshit. This feels planned. Clean. Like someone’s erasing his goddamn footprints on purpose.”

Clark, who’d been quiet until now, finally spoke—his voice low, hard, and laced with something dangerously close to defeat.

The usual casual playful edge in his voice was gone—replaced by something sharper.

Gritted. Grim.

“For one second, just think,” he said, his gaze locked on Zion.

“If Ethan really is the one behind those messages… and we haven’t found a single trace of him after all these weeks…”

He paused, his jaw ticking.

“Then how the hell are we supposed to fucking find him now?”

The silence that followed was heavy—thick with dread and the echo of a truth no one wanted to admit.

My heart kicked hard against my ribs as I looked between them.

“What the hell are you guys talking about?”

The words burst out of me, louder than I meant, laced with panic. My heart slammed against my ribs as I stared at them, one by one.

“You can’t find him?” I asked, voice rising.

“What do you mean you can’t find him?”

My pulse roared in my ears.

I looked at Zion—he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

None of them would.

“You’ve been looking for Ethan this whole time? But… my dad said he was in jail. Are you saying he’s not?”

He shook his head slowly, eyes fixed somewhere just past me.

“You mean… he’s not? He wasn’t?”

My voice cracked as the truth clawed its way up my throat.

“He—Dad lied to me? Ethan’s been out there this whole time?”

"Fuck" Zion cursed under his breath, jaw tightening.

“Snowflake—”

“Don’t Snowflake me,” I snapped, my voice rising with heat.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m some fragile kid who can’t handle the truth. Just say it, Zion. Whatever it is—just say it.”

His gaze flickered, something unreadable flashing behind his eyes.

His jaw was clenched so tight, I could see the muscle ticking along his cheek like a warning sign ready to explode.

“There’s nothing to tell at the moment,” he said finally, voice flat—too flat. Sharp and controlled like he was barely holding something back.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

I stared at him, heart pounding so hard it echoed in my ears.

Nothing to worry about?

That was bullshit.

And he knew it.

“That didn’t sound like nothing,” I whispered, taking a shaky step toward him.

Zion’s eyes hardened, his silence louder than any confession.

I swallowed hard.

I could see it in his face.

The way he avoided my eyes.

The way the room suddenly felt too quiet.

No.

This wasn’t nothing.

And Zion Royal was definitely hiding something.

.......

The others kept brainstorming for another ten minutes, Ariel scribbling down notes with quiet focus, but my mind wasn’t in it—not really.

It kept circling back to what the boys had said.

Ethan wasn’t in jail.

He was missing.

And they’d been looking for him this entire time… without telling me.

A dull ache settled behind my eyes as I leaned back in my chair, dragging a hand over my face.

The weight of it all—secrets, lies, the creeping sense of something much darker—pressed heavy on my chest.

Zion’s voice broke through the silence—low, steady, too careful.

“You okay?”

I exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on the floor.

“Yeah,” I murmured, nodding once.

“Just… a lot to process.”

Zion’s gaze sharpened, his entire body coiling with quiet rage.

“We’ll find this bastard, Snowflake,” he said, voice like steel.

“Whoever thinks they can come after you, threaten you—they just signed their own death sentence.”

I lifted my eyes to his, the question escaping before I could stop it.

“And if it’s Ethan?” I asked, voice tighter than I meant it to be.

“The guy you all apparently can’t even find? If he’s the one writing those messages…”

The words landed like a punch to the gut. Zion’s jaw clenched, a storm gathering in his eyes.

“Whether he’s the one behind the messages or not…” Zion’s voice was low—razor-sharp and vibrating with fury.

“I’m going to keep looking. Because he touched you. He put his hands on you—and that’s all I fucking need.”

His jaw was tight, eyes burning with something wild and lethal.

“I’ll tear this whole fucking city apart—brick by brick, block by block—until I find him. I don’t care how long it takes, who I have to go through, or what it costs. I will find him.”

He stepped closer, voice a deadly whisper now.

“And when I do—he’s finished. I’ll make sure he never even thinks about you again. He’ll beg for hell before I’m done with him.”

The way he said it… not loud. Just calm.

Certain.

I swallowed hard, throat tight. I wanted to believe him—needed to—but the pressure in my chest refused to ease.

“I don’t…...”

Zion’s eyes softened as he stepped closer, voice dropping to something gentler—something meant just for me.

“Snowflake,” he murmured,

“just let it go for now, alright? I’ve got this. You don’t have to carry it. Let me handle it.”

Harry, who’d been pacing restlessly by the window, suddenly stopped and fixed the group with a sharp look.

“Whoever’s behind these messages... they’re not far.”

Harry’s voice was sharp, heavy with conviction.

“They’re close. Closer than we think. Watching you. Tracking your every move. Knowing where you are, what you’re doing—every damn step you take.”

I swallowed hard, the weight of his words sinking deep.

“Actually… I think there is someone.”

Every eye snapped to me.

“Snowflake.”

Zion’s voice dropped an octave, the usual sharp edge softening into something darker—concern mixed with something fiercer.

His gaze drilled into me, trying to pull out the truth I wasn’t saying.

“What do you mean?”

I hesitated, fingers twisting nervously in the hem of my sleeve.

“I… I think someone’s been following me home from college. A couple times.”

A pause.

“Okay, more than a couple.”

I tried to shrug it off, forcing a weak smile that didn’t reach my eyes.

“Maybe it’s just me being paranoid,” I added quickly.

“With all the messages lately, it’s easy to get nervous and imagine things that aren’t there. I keep telling myself it’s nothing... that I’m just overthinking. Maybe it’s just stress making me see shadows.”

Zion’s expression snapped hard.

The softness vanished completely, replaced by a cold fury that made the room seem to freeze. His jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack.

Slowly, deliberately, he turned his head toward me, eyes blazing with a dangerous intensity.

“Fuck, Snowflake.” His voice was low, harsh, trembling with anger.

“You should’ve called me the second it happened. Do you have any idea how close you’ve been to danger? How much you’ve put yourself at risk?”

Before I could even say anything, Claire—arms folded, brow arched—cut in from the couch.

“Well, maybe she didn’t exactly feel like calling you. You know, considering the absolute hell you put her through before?”

Her tone was pure sarcasm, but the undercurrent of protectiveness was sharp and clear.

Zion blinked, jaw ticking.

“Claire—”

But she held up a hand.

“Nope. Don’t ‘Claire’ me. You might be playing her savior now, but have you forgotten how you dragged her name through the dirt, tore her life apart, ignored her, made her doubt everything? And now you’re acting shocked she didn’t come running to you?”

Zion’s fists clenched at his sides, his body taut with barely contained tension. He said nothing—just turned back to me, his eyes dark, simmering with a storm of guilt.

And something else.

Something raw and unmistakable.

Regret.