Chapter 168

SEBASTIAN

There are very few things in my life I cannot control.

Markets.

People.

Information.

Outcomes.

Today reminds me violently that Dahlia has always been one of them.

I’ve been everywhere.

Hospitals. Streets. Cafés she once mentioned in passing. Izzy’s number rings unanswered until it goes dead. Jack doesn’t know where she is.

I even had to call Diego, whose help I had earlier refused. Diego splits off, checks the routes she usually takes when she’s overwhelmed… parks, quiet corners, anywhere she can disappear and breathe.

Everywhere smells like panic.

Everywhere feels wrong.

By the time I pull up to her dorm for the second time, frustration has curdled into something darker. Fear. The kind that sits heavy in your gut and refuses to loosen its grip.

I don’t even turn off the engine at first.

I sit there, staring at the building like it might spit her back out if I wait long enough.

“She’s