Chapter 15

The police officer quickly reached out to Charlie. "Mr. Grant, please calm down." But Charlie didn't seem to hear him at all. He couldn't even stand up, yet he still instinctively clutched Selene's belongings tightly to his chest. Tears streamed down his face, blurring his vision until the image on her ID became unreadable. Three years ago, when Selene disappeared without a trace, Charlie hadn't fallen apart like this. Their memories together played over and over in his mind like a film reel. He tried to hold on to them, but the more he reached, the more he realized those moments had already faded into dust. All that remained now was overwhelming regret. The cruelest part was that the more Charlie tried to recall Selene clearly, the more Bella kept appearing in those memories. She tainted them and made him feel sick. Even the wedding ring he had once custom-made now bore Bella's initials. The person who had once stood beside him during that first snowfall wasn't Selene, but the im