Page 259 of Blackwood

“I’m sorry,” he says, voice low and measured. “I don’t know what else I can do. If we can’t get her to eat or drink… if she won’t talk to me, won’t let me in.” He pauses, then says it straight. “We’re going to lose her.”

My chest caves at his words. Then I hear it, soft, broken, almost under her breath. That hum. Low and steady. A pattern.

“Hmm… hmm… hmm…

Hmm… hmm… hmm…

Hmm… hmm… hmm…

Hmm… hmm… hmm…”

Twelve notes. Just like Luca warned.

Something in Cade snaps. “Just fucking do it, Knox!” he roars, voice sharp enough to slice the air in half. Everyone freezes. Even Tex looks over. Cade’s fists are shaking, his chest heaving like he can’t get enough air.

“I don’t care what you have to do—beg, scream, slap her out of it—just get her back!”

He storms past me, nearly shoulder-checking the counter, pacing like a caged animal. His hands go to his head gripping his hair, clawing through it like he’s seconds away from shattering.

“Bring her back to us,” he mutters again, quieter this time, hands braced on the wall like it’s the only thing holding him upright. “Please, Knox.”

Knox exhales, shoulders sinking. “I’ll go try again.”

He walks toward the couch taking slow, measured steps like he’s approaching a crime scene. Bella hasn’t moved. Not once. Still curled up where she first sat two nights ago, like she’s been carved out of stone. She’s in one of Cade’s old hoodies now, sleeves bunched at her fists. No makeup. No shoes. Just… hollow.

Sabine and the girls got her inside and changed. Haley held her up while Ellie wiped the blood from her palms. Sabine whispered something in Creole while she pulled the pins from her hair. They got her out of the gown. Cleaned the smudged lipstick. Then she sat down on the couch and hasn’t moved since. Just stares out the window toward the city.

Knox lowers himself to the floor in front of her, cross-legged, just like he did yesterday. “Hey, B…” he tries, voice soft. “It’s me again.”

Nothing.

Cade drifts over to me, silent at first. His gaze doesn’t leave her.

“She looks like she’s already gone,” I mutter.

“She’s not,” he says automatically, but his voice falters at the end. “She can’t be.”

“Then where the fuck is she, Cade?”

Haley whispers next to us, “It’s like Zeke died all over again. Like he took whatever was left of her with him and now…”

“Now there’s nothing left.” I say.

She doesn’t argue. Just nods. Barely.

Knox keeps talking, still gentle, still useless. Her eyes don’t move. Her chest barely rises.

Tex’s phone buzzes sharp in the silence. He answers. “Yeah.”

A pause.

“Okay… Yeah… Thanks, Jack. Keep me posted.”

I turn to him. “Any news?”

“NYPD questioned every single person at the Masquerade. Nothing. No witnesses. No footage. No one saw a damn thing.”

He slips the phone back into his pocket. “Jack’s gonna head over to her dad’s place now. See if he can find anything useful.”