The Storm

NOLAN

**"Sometimes, doing your best feels like it’s never enough, like every step forward only leads to more walls, more pain, more fear."**

I sat there, staring at the wall, feeling the weight of everything crashing down on me. I had tried so hard, thrown everything I had into getting Lucas and Lucy back. I made calls, talked to every contact I had, tried every angle I could think of. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing was working.

I felt like I was losing them. My kids. My flesh and blood. I’d only just gotten them back, and now they were slipping through my fingers, taken by some faceless monster who wanted to rip my life apart. And I couldn’t stop it.

I ran a hand through my hair, frustration gnawing at my insides. “What the hell do they mean by half of our wealth combined?”

Alanna stood across from me, her eyes red from crying, her face pale with worry. She looked as tired as I felt. “Maybe they mean our total assets divided by two. In money.”

“That means they know us,” I muttered, t