She huffed at him, a small, irritated puff of air, but didn’t argue.He took the win.She didn’t hand those out easily either.
They stepped into the lot.The fall sun hung low along the horizon, casting long shadows across the cracked asphalt.It was the kind of lighting that said,murder documentaries love me.The air held a bite, hinting evening was coming fast.
Kayne scanned the lot, automatic and instinctive.It was clear and quiet with a few scattered vehicles.A dumpster overflowed with demo debris.No movement.
Then he felt a prickle down his spine.It wasn’t a sight or a sound, just theshiftof the atmosphere.The sense of being observed.
He moved Chloe behind him with one smooth motion.“Stay close.”
“Kayne, I can walk to my—”
A screech sliced through the air that shrieked like steel on steel.Tires.Fast.Bright headlights exploded into view, blinding and too damn close.
Kayne reacted without thought.He locked an arm around her waist and hauled her into him as he pivoted.Her feet barely skimmed the ground.
A black sedan tore out from behind stacked construction pallets as if it had been waiting for them.Hunting them.
“Hold on,” he barked, twisting them aside as the car screamed past, close enough that he felt the heat off the engine six inches away.Maybe five.
Chloe gasped, fists bunched in his shirt.The sedan hadn’t slowed, tapped the brakes, or swerved to avoid them.
It had driven straight at them.
Kayne’s mind went cold and lethal with a sniper’s stillness.It was the place he visited when things went sideways.
The car fishtailed, tires shrieking, then it rocketed toward the exit and disappeared with a smear of burned rubber and exhaust.
Kayne kept Chloe in his arms for another full second.Not because she needed it.
Because he did.
Plus, the tremor in her breath told him she wasn’t as okay as she wanted him to believe.
Her voice shook.“Oh, my God—did you see—Kayne, we almost—”
“Yeah.”His jaw locked.“I saw.”
“That wasn’t an accident.”
“No,” he said.“It wasn’t.”
She trembled, disbelief cracking through her composure.He hated that look on her, how fast she tried to swallow it down.It sliced him straight down the middle.
He gently cupped her elbows.“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.“N-no.It came out of nowhere.”
“No,” Kayne said quietly.“It came foryou.”
Her breath caught, and he felt it like a sledgehammer landing in his gut.
Kayne scanned the lot again, checking tire marks, approach vectors, and blind corners.His brain reconstructed the attack without effort, his peripheral vision painting a map of what happened.The pallets hid the line of approach.The driver knew the layout and where Chloe exited.And they knew the workers were gone.
It was planned, not impulsive.Calculated.Too damn close.
This wasn’t a bored stalker with a keyboard.This was an escalation.
He turned her gently toward him.She didn’t pull away.“Listen to me, Chloe.”His voice stayed calm but iron-backed.“You don’t go anywhere alone.Not to your car.Not down a hallway.Not even a bathroom break.”
