Chapter 26

Chase’s pov

I stood outside Elodie's room, my ear pressed against the door as her painful sobs tore through me. Without hesitation, I turned the handle and entered, my eyes adjusting to the dim light. Elodie writhed on her bed, her small frame trembling with fear, and doused in sweat. My gut twisted with a protective instinct I'd never felt before.

She looked so small and scared, even till this moment that she was calm, and I felt something I never thought I could feel, much less for a girl more than fifteen years younger than me.

The age gap between us was glaring, even as I held her small hand, but the strong urge to protect her from any and every harm filled me with burning rage.

There were a lot of questions in my mind.

In her sleep, she had been whispering words I could barely make out, but I heard her call her dad.

She had never mentioned anything about her father –not like it was a surprise since I barely fucking knew her– but hearing her call out to him with so much pain in he