#Chapter 208: The Meeting

Agnes I fidgeted in the passenger seat as Elijah pulled into the dive bar’s parking lot. The place looked exactly as I remembered it from my past life—grimy windows with neon beer signs, chipped paint on the exterior, and a crooked sign hanging above the door. Years ago, I’d spent many nights here trying to drown my sorrows after Thea disappeared. I figured it would be fitting to meet here—to show him where his daughter spent her lonely evenings after he kicked her to the curb. “Are you sure about this?” Elijah asked. He put the car in park but kept the engine running. “I can come in with you.” I shook my head as I pulled a baseball cap lower over my eyes and adjusted the sunglasses I had perched on my nose. The sun had long since gone down, but I was too recognizable these days to risk being seen. “I need to do this alone,” I said, even as my stomach twisted into knots at the thought of facing my father. “If you’re there, he might hold back on whatever