Page 23 of Searching for Valor

But then again, maybe Rylan was the safest option. Yes, he hated her, but he didn’t look like he wanted to kill her like Pierce did.

“Let’s make this quick,” Rylan said curtly, brushing past her toward the cabin’s entrance.

Rylan gave a curt nod, his expression unreadable. Without a word, he turned and strode toward the cabin, leaving Izzy no choice but to follow. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for whatever awaited her inside.

The door creaked as Rylan pushed it open, the sound unnaturally loud in the heavy silence. Izzy stepped over the threshold, her gaze sweeping the small space. It looked like a typical cabin getaway— a worn sofa, lots of wood paneling, a stone fireplace. But there was an undercurrent of wrongness that made her skin prickle.

She’d only been a deputy for a little over a year before she was fired, and she wasn’t a licensed private investigator yet. And even if she were, she wouldn’t know the first thing to look for, so she stayed back and let Rylan do a sweep through the living room.

A mug lay on its side on the coffee table, with a dark brown stain underneath that looked alarmingly like dried blood.

Rylan leaned down and put his nose close to the stain. “Chocolate.”

The breath trapped in her throat released in a whoosh. “Thank God. For a second there, I thought...”

Rylan straightened, his expression grim. “Yeah. Me too.” He moved further into the room, his gaze sweeping every surface,every corner, with the precision of a trained soldier. “Don’t just stand there. Make yourself useful.”

Heat flared in her cheeks, and she fought the urge to snap back. Instead, she stepped further into the room, scanning for anything that might have been overlooked. Her gaze landed on a small stuffed bear partially hidden beneath the couch. She crouched to pick it up, her chest tightening at the thought of Noah clinging to it during the chaos.

“Cody the Cowboy,” she said, and Rylan glanced over at her, a brow arched in question.

She straightened with the bear in her hand. It was dressed like a cowboy with a hat, chaps, and little boots. She remembered Noah’s wide eyes and happy grin when she’d taken him to Build-A-Bear for his fifth birthday, and he’d created Cody. “Noah likes to pretend he’s too old for toys, but he still sleeps with this. He wouldn’t have willingly left it behind.”

Rylan’s expression softened a fraction as he looked at the bear. “We’ll make sure he gets it back when we find him.”

When, not if. The certainty in his voice made her throat tighten with gratitude. For all his anger toward her, Rylan was still the same man she’d started falling for— steady, determined, and always ready to help someone in need.

Izzy nodded, not trusting her voice. She set the bear gently on the couch, her fingers lingering on the soft fur for a moment before she forced herself to step back.

They moved through the rest of the cabin methodically, checking each room for any sign of what had happened. In the kitchen, they found a pot in the sink with soapy water still in it and a mug with the remnants of hot chocolate.

“They were making cocoa,” Izzy said softly. “They were settling in for the night. They weren’t planning to run off into the woods.”

If Noah had been at all upset, Grace would have done everything in her power to comfort him. She would’ve made him the hot cocoa and wrapped him up in a blanket with Cody, promising him that everything would be okay. Even at eighteen, Grace had the instincts of a mother hen.

Izzy’s heart clenched as she pictured the scene. How terrified must they have been. Did they cry out for help that never came?

She turned away from the kitchen, her breath coming faster as reality started to set in. They were missing. Two kids she loved like her own family… and they were just…gone.

Rylan walked down the short hall to check the bedroom. When he returned, his prosthetic hand flexed at his side, a sure sign he was on edge. “Nothing in the bedroom. Bed’s made, no sign of a struggle. Their suitcases are still here, and Noah’s backpack is half-unpacked like someone was looking for something.”

“He was probably looking for Cody.”

“The bear,” he said after a beat. “Right. Well, we’re not getting answers from this cabin. We should check with the team, see if anyone found anything.”

A wave of helplessness washed over her. He was right. They’d searched the entire cabin and found nothing concrete, no clues to point them in the right direction. Just signs of a normal evening interrupted.

Izzy braced her hands on the kitchen counter, her head bowed as she struggled to keep her composure. “Oh, God. Where are they?”

Her chest felt too tight, her breaths too shallow. She tried to focus on breathing—deep breath in, slow breath out. Anything to keep the rising panic at bay. But it didn’t work. She still felt like she was drowning, weighed down by Grace and Noah’s disappearance, Monica’s absence, and Rylan’s cold, distant presence.

Behind her, Rylan shifted. She could feel his gaze on her back, a tangible thing that made the hair on her arms stand on end.

“We’ll find them, Iz.” His voice was quiet, gentle in a way that felt completely at odds with the tension crackling between them.

Iz.

Her throat tightened. He hadn’t called her that since… before. Since everything fell apart between them. For a moment, it was like no time had passed at all. Like they were still the people they’d been three months ago, when she thought maybe, just maybe, they had a future together.

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