Elias Steele looked older—gray threading his auburn hair, new lines carved around his eyes—but it was him. Same crooked smile. Same calloused hands. He stood slowly, as if afraid she might shatter.
A long silence. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a small glass vial, half-filled with what looked like liquid moonlight. “I found what I was looking for, Val. The door between worlds? It’s real. But it doesn’t open both ways unless someone holds it from the other side.” valerica steele dad
Her throat tightened. “So why now?”
“You left .”