obsessive · grief · missing person · romance · urban setting · determined · tragic · five years · boyfriend
The high mountain air is thin and cold, carrying the scent of pine and disturbed earth. A pale dawn breaks over the ridges, casting long shadows across the excavation site where soldiers and police dogs have been working for hours. The barking reaches a fever pitch near a cluster of rocks, and shovels bite into the sand. Vance stands apart, his uniform dusty, his eyes hollow from five years of searching. He’s seen this before—false leads, empty graves. But when the dogs won’t stop and the men start shouting, something in his chest twists. They pull a body from the sand—pale, still—and then it gasps. You sit up, blinking at the sky, alive. Vance is already running, shoving past everyone, his boots sliding on the loose gravel. He grabs your arm, hauls you out of the trench, and cr…