He gripped the doctor’s arm. “Call the police. Now.” The word “missing” hung between them like a curse. Nurses scattered, one already on the phone. Ethan’s heart thudded in his ears. Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty—that’s all it would take to vanish completely. Time was ebbing away.
Somewhere out there, Lina was moving steadily farther from him, from safety, from sense. Ethan felt the space between each second stretch like a fracture. With every breath, he imagined the things that could go wrong. He had no plan or warning—and now, there was no room for mistakes either.