I hold her back.
Firm.
Steady.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur, my hand coming up to the back of her head, grounding her the way I always have.
But this time—
It’s different.
Because I almost didn’t.
“I thought—” her voice breaks, breath catching. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
My chest tightens.
Not breaking.
Never breaking.
But it’s there.
“I told you,” I say quietly. “I will always come for you.”
Her grip tightens.
Like she needs that promise to be physical.
Real.
“They moved me,” she whispers. “I didn’t see how. I didn’t hear anything. It was just—one second I was there and then—”
“I know,” I say.
Because I do.
Because I saw the system.
The precision.
The control.
“They wanted us to follow,” I add.
Tessa pulls back just enough to look at me, her eyes searching mine.
“And you did.”
A beat.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No regret.
Because there was never another choice.
