Alistair glanced up, noticing my frozen posture. “Evelyn?”
“I’m fine,” I said automatically, the lie practiced and smooth. But my mind raced through possibilities, each more horrifying than the last.
Langston was many things. Cruel, controlling, obsessive. But above all, he was pragmatic. A businessman to his core. He wouldn’t pour millions into mind-controlling an entire town just to recapture his runaway wife and daughter, no matter how wounded his pride. There had to be a bigger payoff. Something worth the investment.
The realization hit me like a bucket of ice water. What if we weren’t the goal? What if we were just... bait? Leverage for something else?
I thought of Sophia’s birth. How Langston had insisted on a private clinic, private doctors. How he’d been obsessed with her development, tracking every milestone. I’d chalked it up to his controlling nature, but what if there was more to it?
“Evelyn,” Ethan’s voice pulled me back to the present. He stood before me now, his piercing blue eyes assessing my state. “We need to move the civilians. After that evac, it’s likely they followed the helo and know where we’re stationed. Can you help coordinate?”
I stood, wiping my bloody hands on a towel Alistair handed me. “I’m going to the mining facility.”
The words came out firm, decisive. Not a question.
Ethan’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Abso-fucking-lutely not. You’re staying here where it’s safe.”
“Nowhere is safe,” I snapped, meeting his gaze without flinching. “And you need me. I know Langston Winslow better than anyone here. I know how he thinks, how he moves. That makes me an asset, not a liability.”
“You’re a civilian without tactical training.”
“I’m the only one who can predict what he’ll do next.” I stepped closer, forcing myself not to back down. “If there’s something more going on, if Sophia is somehow valuable to him beyond being his daughter, I need to know what it is. And I need to stop it.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “Your ex-husband has spent years and millions of dollars trying to find you. If you walk into that facility, you’re giving him exactly what he wants.”
“Or I’m giving your team exactly what they need: a distraction.” I surprised myself with the calculating edge in myvoice. “If Langston thinks he has me, he’ll get sloppy. Focus on me instead of your people.”
Alistair coughed lightly. “She’s got a point, Grim.”
Ethan shot him a look that would have silenced most people. Alistair just shrugged and continued patching up Dutch.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” I pressed. “Tell me having someone who knows Langston’s patterns, his weaknesses, wouldn’t help your operation.”
Ethan studied me for a long moment, his tactical mind visibly weighing options, calculating risks and benefits. I knew the moment he made his decision; something shifted in his eyes, a grudging respect replacing his initial refusal.
“You go with me,” he said finally. “Stay behind me, follow orders, and if I tell you to run, you run. Agreed?”
Relief and fear coursed through me in equal measure. “Agreed.”
“Evie,” Dutch said softly and reached out for my hand. “Think about Sophia. She needs her mother alive.”
I looked over at my daughter, still safely tucked against Mrs. Longfield’s side. Was I risking too much? Putting my need for answers above my child’s need for a living mother?
No. I was fighting for her future. Whatever Langston wanted with her “genetic markers,” whatever these other parties had planned, it couldn’t be good. Running and hiding had kept us safe for years, but it hadn’t solved anything. Langston had still found us. He’d always find us unless I ended this.
“Mrs. Longfield and Alistair will look after her,” I said, my voice steady. “And I’m coming back.”
Alistair looked up from finishing Dutch’s bandage. “I’ll guard her with my life,” he said simply. The conviction in his voice left no room for doubt.
I crossed to where Sophia sat and knelt in front of her. Her small face, so like mine but with Langston’s eyes, looked up at me with that too-old expression she’d worn since the cult.
God, I’d done so many things wrong in my efforts to protect her from Langston.
And yet he’d found her anyway.
It was long past time to put an end to his reign of terror.
“I’ll be back soon, sweet pea,” I said, touching her cheek. “I need to make sure the bad people can’t hurt anyone else.”
