Marcus: I wish today had gone differently.
Another.
Marcus: I was worried about you. I still am.
I scroll down, my heart pounding harder with every message, every word.
Marcus: I’m staying in town for a few days. We should talk properly. Not like yesterday.
My stomach drops.
Staying in town.
Marcus: You don’t have to run from me, Delaney. I’m not your enemy.
A humorless laugh tears out of me before I can stop it. It comes out shaky and sharp and ugly.
Not my enemy.
I press my phone to my chest, fingers curling around it, wishing I could crush the words out of existence.
There’s a sickening familiarity to this. The persistence disguised as concern. The insistence that if I’d just stay, just listen, just stop being so dramatic, everything would make sense again.
He’s done this before.
Not like this, not showing up uninvited in a small town, not cornering me in public, but the shape of it is the same. The pressure. The reframing. The refusal to accept no unless it’s wrapped in the right kind of compliance.
And the worst part?
A small, traitorous piece of my brain whispers:What if he doesn’t leave unless you make him?
That thought settles deep and heavy.
I swing my legs out of bed and stand, pacing the room like a trapped animal. The ranch is quiet outside my window. Morning chores already underway somewhere beyond the trees. A normal day unfolding without any idea that my past has crawled back into my present and set up camp.
I can’t let him do this.
I won’t.
He already took enough from me. My job. My reputation. My confidence. The version of myself that believed hard work and talent were enough to keep me safe.
I won’t let him poison this too.
I stop pacing and stand very still, staring at my reflection in the mirror over the dresser.
I look… different.
Steadier.
There are shadows under my eyes, yes. My mouth is tight, my shoulders drawn. But there’s more there too. Something I didn’t have the last time I faced him in an office full of stainless steel and power imbalance.
I have a choice.
And I have people.
Boone, with his quiet gravity and unyielding sense of right and wrong. Silas, who sees cracks before anyone else does andhates when people he cares about get hurt. Caleb, who listens without demanding and stays without crowding.
Sadie.
