Alex hadn't slept properly in days.
Lisa's letter still lay on his desk, the paper wrinkled from how many times he had clutched it in his fists. His mother hadn't spoken much since the day she found it — she simply cried silently, eyes distant, like something inside her had broken.
"Lisa, my sunshine, my daughter... why didn't you tell me you were hurting?"
The house no longer felt alive.
The walls echoed with Lisa's absence. No footsteps running down the stairs. No soft humming from the kitchen. No warm smile waiting when he came home late. Just silence.
Alex stood at the edge of Lisa's bedroom, his eyes scanning every inch — the small trinkets, the books she loved, her soft pastel blankets... and then he found a photo hidden under her pillow.
A photo of them — Lisa smiling, Alex behind her, holding a cake she baked on his birthday.
His chest tightened.
"I pushed you too far," he murmured. "I was the reason you left."
⸻
Meanwhile, at the beach house...
Lisa stood barefoot in the sand, her hair dancing in the ocean wind. Her belly had grown rounder now, and every kick reminded her that she wasn't truly alone.
Zia approached with a warm drink in hand. "I saw a news article this morning... your family has announced a missing person report."
Lisa's face fell.
"Your name is everywhere," Zia continued gently. "They're looking, Lisa."
Lisa turned toward the sea, blinking away the sting in her eyes. "I don't want them to find me. Not yet. I want to give birth peacefully. I want to breathe before all the pain comes rushing back."
"But what if Alex finds you?" Zia asked. "What will you do?"
Lisa paused for a long moment.
"I'll hide again, if I have to," she said quietly. "He never loved me the way I needed... and now, I have to protect someone who will."
⸻
Back at the mansion, Eli confronted Alex in the garden.
"You've searched through everything — police, hospital records, her friends, her college — what now?"
Alex's eyes were darker than ever, haunted. "There's still one place left."
Eli raised a brow. "Where?"
Alex turned toward the old family photo, where a small orphanage was visible in the background of Lisa's first day with them.
"Where it all started," Alex whispered. "If I were her, I'd go back to where she felt safest before we ever broke her."