Alex was sitting in the booth next to Ana, his leg propped on the seat opposite, bundled in a pile of dish towels. He nodded in agreement. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The message was clear.
Ellis looked deflated, a cloud of desperation sinking over him. He couldn’t defend himself. Not this time. Thanks to Ana, his own words, his actions had followed him out into the world. There was no way he could take them back now.
His balloon had crash-landed, and he knew it.
He looked around wildly. His eyes found Ana’s and locked on; the darkness had faded, replaced by a hooded, unreadable expression.
Words ran through Ana’s mind. There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to scream at him for hurting Raya and Alex, for setting fire to the outbuilding, for trying to strangle her on the line—she could still feel his hands tightening around her neck. She wanted him to know that all his cruelty had been for nothing, that he hadn’t escaped the Motel Loba—not really. He never would now. It would follow him forever.
But as she met his stare, something gripped her inside. There was genuine fear behind his guarded expression. He was a seventeen-year-old who had just realized his future was over.Thiswas his moment on the white line—thiswas his time to face the end. He could see no way out; he had fought for his life, for his future—and he had lost it all.
Caden edged forward, pushing Ellis towards the door.
Ellis nodded—he understood. It was over. Hands shaking, he reached for the handle and pulled the door open. The bell dinged; the wail of the distant sirens drifted in on the cold night air. Without pausing, without looking back, he walked through the doorway into darkness.
There was aclack-clackas the screen door creaked shut behind him.
The atmosphere in the diner felt instantly lighter, a collective release—they could breathe again.
One by one, they turned away from the door, moving back to their respective corners. Caden retrieved his burned sandwich and started munching on it loudly, back turned to the others. Raya slumped onto her booth seat with a sigh. Jade curled up in her corner again and resumed staring vacantly out of the dark window.
A deep feeling of exhaustion hit Ana. This didn’t feel right. They’dprevailed; Ellis had finally been forced to face what he’d done, to look into the eyes of the people he had hurt. Justly—Ellis was a sadistic jerk. No question. Not to mention an arrogant, self-serving, selfish bastard.
But at the end of the day, this wasn’t all on him. Hunt had known all along that Ellis’s secret was the key to proving Karl’s innocence. He could have just taken Ellis and played his cruel game with him alone. But Hunt had chosen to come after all of them, like some sick, power-hungry, avenging angel. They had all been forced into a corner and made to fight their way out. Hunt had done this to them—no one else, and while it didn’t excuse Ellis’s actions, on some level, he was a victim too.
Ana looked around at the faces, all turned away, unable to face each other. They were just kids, every one of them. Some she’d barely known before this trip, but now they were forever tied together, their futures, their paths entwined.
There had to be hope that they would move on, put this behind them, and live well. Otherwise, what was the point? When did it end? Fear, pain, and loss followed by grief, hopelessness, and guilt. The vicious cycle that had started with the fire, with everything that had come before it, with everything that Matt Hunt had revived in his sick and twisted game—it was all still playing out. It had to stop somewhere.
Didn’t it?
Instinctively she picked up her phone and scrolled through Ellis’s confession. She watched as the distorted image caught Ellis, moving backwards and forwards, in and out of view, flexing his hands as he confessed to causing the fire, his face distraught.
Would they ever truly be able to put that night at the gym behind them and live with their terrible mistakes, or would part of them stay trapped forever in the past—trapped in the motel, inside the white circle? Was this going to be their story? Or would they forgivethemselves and move on? The cycle had to end. But it would only stop when they made it stop.
It would only stop when they made it stop.
Suddenly she knew what she had to do—she just wasn’t sure if she could do it. She turned to Alex. He had been watching her silently.
“Alex…I think I need to go after him,” she said, searching his face for a reaction, half-expecting him to try to stop her. But Alex just smiled.
“Yeah, I know.” His soft eyes were warm. He nodded. He understood.
That was all she needed. Grabbing her phone, she jumped to her feet and ran to the door, out into the night one last time.
45
Ana
“Ellis, wait!” The diner door creaked shut behind her. Ana walked forward, her phone in her hand.
Ellis was standing next to a gas pump, his tall outline caught in a circle of orange light, spotlit from above. His back was turned to her, head down; his powerful shoulders slumped forward, like a beautiful but damaged Greek statue.
As she looked at him, Ana felt a wave of emotions. All the fear, loathing, and hatred that he had embodied, contained in that single figure. The way his hair caught the light, his broad chest, his hands gripped at his sides—it burned through her. She could feel those hands holding her by the neck, the sheer horror as his fingers tightened.
Her resolve wavered. What was she doing out here? Ellis had made his own bed, let him lie in it. She should just turn around, head back to the diner, to Alex and Raya. Screw Ellis.
But then she heard it.
