Austin POV

I was overjoyed to see Faith and Jairee safe and unharmed. But the ordeal was far from over—my mother had not yet been caught, and we hadn’t seen her since the chaos began.

“Honey, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Axel sooner. I planned to, once everything was settled… but things escalated before I could,” I began, holding her hands tightly after our embrace.

“I’m sorry too, hon,” she replied, voice trembling. “I left without speaking to you. If we had ...