Chapter 401
Jake's POV
I walked down the narrow gravel pathway leading to the house, my strides heavy and sluggish under the piercing, freezing morning sun. The sheer weight of last night's exhausting search pressed down ruthlessly on my shoulders, making every step a battle. But the moment I reached the threshold, the blood instantly froze in my veins.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my jaw dropping. The heavy iron lock had been brutally ripped out of its socket, leaving splintered shards of dark wood scattered across the stone porch like raw shrapnel.
I lunged forward, throwing the fractured door open with a violent shove that made it bang against the wall. Panic seized my chest, ripping a desperate shriek from my lungs that shattered the heavy, morbid silence of the house:
"Steve!.. Julie!.. Where the hell are you?!"
