He looked the same. Immaculately tailored suit despite the chaos around us. Silver-streaked dark hair perfectly styled. That face I’d once thought handsome before I learned the ugliness inside him. His eyes widened fractionally at the sight of us, then settled into something calculated, almost pleased.
“Well,” he said, his cultured voice unchanged. “Isn’t this convenient?”
Ethan raised his weapon in one fluid motion. “Hands where I can see them, Winslow.”
Langston didn’t comply. Instead, his eyes locked on mine, lips curving into a smile that never reached his eyes. “Hello, Evelyn. You’re looking well for someone who’s supposedly been dead for three years.”
My throat closed around any response I might have made. All the carefully rehearsed words, all the defiance I’d practiced for this moment, vanished like smoke.
“Hands up,” Ethan repeated, taking a half-step forward. “Now.”
Langston moved faster than I expected, closing the gap between us. I stumbled back, but not fast enough. His handclamped around my upper arm, yanking me in front of him. The cold press of metal against my ribs told me he’d drawn a weapon.
“I wouldn’t,” Langston told Ethan, who had adjusted his aim, trying to find a clean shot. “We both know what happens when bullets start flying in confined spaces like this.”
I stood rigid against Langston’s chest, his cologne filling my nostrils. The same scent he’d worn when he’d broken my wrist for speaking to another man at a charity gala. When he’d locked me in our bedroom for three days after I “flirted” with a business associate. My skin crawled where he touched me.
“Let her go,” Ethan said, his voice flat. “This facility is surrounded. You’ve got nowhere to run.”
Langston laughed, the sound vibrating against my back. “I’ve always had a backup plan, Mr. Voss. Always. But right now, I’m curious about something.” His grip tightened painfully on my arm. “Did you really think I didn’t know where you were, Evelyn?”
Ice flooded my veins.
“Steam Valley, California,” He continued. “You ran to that little off-the-grid community in the mountains, but that turned out to be a big mistake, didn’t it?” He smirked. “Who do you think gave Hope’s Embrace the Tectra-X weapon to begin with?”
Ethan made a sound like a wounded bear, and my gaze snapped to him. The calm, cool soldier had vanished behind a veil of rage.
Maya, I realized. He was thinking about his love, the woman he’d lost in trying to secure that weapon.
Langston had been at the center of everything – not just hunting me, but causing the deaths of innocent people. Orchestrating the very disaster that had killed Maya, just to flush me out of hiding.
“You—“ I started, but Langston squeezed my arm harder, cutting me off.
“I’ve had eyes on you for years, Evelyn. I let you run. Let you think you were free.” His breath was hot against my ear. “It was more... efficient to watch and wait. See how little Emma grew.”
“Don’t call her that,” I snapped, the name breaking through my fear. “Her name is Sophia.”
“Emma Sophia Winslow,” he corrected, voice hardening. “I paid for her. My property. My genetic experiment.”
“Experiment? She’s a child, not a commodity.”
Something in Ethan’s expression shifted. His jaw clenched, his grip on the weapon turning his knuckles white. I’d never seen him angry before, and it was terrifying.
“You gave the Tectra-X weapon to a delusional cult,” Ethan said, his voice flat and deadly. “You armed them with a seismic device that killed hundreds. You killed Maya.”
The name hung in the tunnel like a curse.
“I don’t know a Maya.” Langston actually smiled. “That weapon was meant to flush out Evelyn. I needed her desperate enough to make mistakes. The cult was the perfect pressure point. Isolated, vulnerable, ready to break. I knew she’d run there after I destroyed her previous safe house.” He shrugged against my back. “The weapon’s deployment was unfortunate, but it served its purpose. You came looking for it, and she came looking for safety. Everyone exactly where I needed them.”
Ethan’s control shattered. He moved like something unleashed, closing the distance in two strides. His shoulder slammed into Langston’s chest, tearing me from his grip. I stumbled sideways, catching myself against the tunnel wall as the two men crashed to the ground.
The gun clattered across the concrete. Ethan’s fist connected with Langston’s jaw once, twice. Blood sprayed from Langston’s mouth. He tried to roll, to gain leverage, but Ethan was beyond tactics now. Beyond anything but fury.
“You killed her,” Ethan snarled, his hand wrapping around Langston’s throat. “You gave them that weapon and she died. Do you understand that? She’s dead because of you.”
Langston’s face was turning purple, his fingers clawing at Ethan’s wrist. His polished facade cracked, giving way to animal desperation.
I should’ve moved. Should’ve stopped it. But I couldn’t.
