Just inevitability.
“Something subtle. Personal. No direct contact.”
The man nods, already moving.
“And Carter?” he asks.
Sentinel pauses at the doorway.
A faint, almost thoughtful expression crossing his face.
“Let him stay close,” he says.
A beat.
“It will make this easier.”
He steps into the hallway, disappearing into shadow.
Because the next move isn’t about breaking her body.
Or outmaneuvering a team.
It’s about something far more precise.
Taking a woman who learned to survive in silence—
…and reminding her exactly how easy it is to disappear back into it.
26
Scout
It starts small.
So small most people wouldn’t notice.
That’s the point.
I wake before sunrise, the room still dim, the air quiet in that soft, in-between way that used to feel like safety.
Now it feels like space.
Too much space.
I sit up slowly, careful not to make noise—even though there’s no one here to disturb.
Old habits don’t ask permission.
They just… return.
Logan stayed late.
I remember that.
The chair pulled close to the bed. His presence steady, unspoken, grounding in a way I didn’t question.
At some point, I must have slept.
