*Chapter 7: Bella’s House*
*11:30 PM - Bella’s Apartment Door*
Three knocks. Loud.
Police.
“Miss Carter?” A female officer. “We’re doing a welfare check. Your father is concerned.”
Bella opened the door. “She’s not here.”
“Can we come in?”
“No warrant, no entry,” Bella said, channeling every legal drama she’d ever watched. “But I haven’t seen Jane since last night. She said she was going to clear her head.”
The officers looked past her. Saw only Bella and an empty apartment.
“Alright. Call us if you hear anything.”
---*Back in the US - 11pm*
Thomas was drinking whiskey alone.
Victoria came in. “Any news?”
“No,” Thomas said. “Ethan’s asking questions. The board is asking questions. Where the hell is she?”
Victoria poured herself a glass too. “She’ll turn up. Or she won’t. Either way, we move on. Chloe and Ethan can still—”
“Don’t,” Thomas said. “Just... don’t.”
Upstairs, Chloe was on her phone, scrolling Jane’s Instagram. Already deleted.
She threw her phone across the room.
“She ruined everything,” Chloe whispered. “Everything.”
Thomas was on the phone with the police chief.
“She’s probably just being dramatic,” he said. “19-year-olds do this. She’ll be home in a few days.”
After he hung up, Victoria poured herself wine.
“She’s really gone,” Victoria said. “We messed up.”
“No,” Chloe said from the stairs. “She messed up. By running. Now Ethan will never trust her again.”
Thomas didn’t answer. He just stared at Jane’s empty chair at the table.
Upstairs, in the guest room, the glass of punch was still on the nightstand.
Sticky. Half full.
Evidence no one wanted to touch.
Grandma Rose packed her own bag that night.
London in 6 days.
Because if her granddaughter could run, so could she.