Page 7 of Forbidden Fate

I’ve been there before.

Not officially.

Not in daylight.

“Short window,” he says. “You go tonight. Find Reyes. I want photographic confirmation.”

I don’t respond. I don’t need to. He knows I understand.

“Don’t disappoint me.” The line goes dead.

I lower the phone slowly, already feeling the faint vibration of the incoming text.

Coordinates. Three of them. I glance once at the screen, commit them to memory, and slide the phone back into my pocket.

Time to move.

The drive out to Bellamy land is quiet.

I follow the first set of coordinates down a narrow dirt road. The tires crunch over gravel, loud in the stillness, and I kill the headlights before I get too close.

I park behind a line of trees, step out, and move on foot the rest of the way.

The old building comes into view. Moonflowers crawl along its edges, pale blooms glowing faintly in the dark. I pause, scanning.

No movement. No light. No sound.

Still…something makes my skin tighten.

I approach anyway.

Inside, the air is colder.

I step across the threshold, my boots silent against the warped wood floor, eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Empty.

No signs of a struggle. No recent presence.

But the creepy feeling doesn’t leave. It presses in closer, and for a split second⁠—

I’m not here anymore.

I’m back in that place. Standing in the doorway. Staring at my mother’s body.

Emotion coils through me.

Something happened here. Something that can’t be undone.

I force the memory and the feeling down.

This is just a building.

I turn and walk out without looking back. Reyes isn’t here.

The next two locations are the same story. Clean, quiet, and empty.

Either Bellamy moved Reyes already or he never used these places at all.