“What if it doesn’t end the way I want?”
He’s quiet for a moment, staring at me as though he’s memorizing the stories and lies I keep hidden behind the windows to my soul. “Are we still talking about the book?”
“I—I don’t know.”
His arm tightens around my shoulders. “Explain it to me.”
“I don’t know how to move on if Terra still exists. I guess it was just easier when I thought she was dead. Now, the reality of her feels like hands tightening around my neck. I just need…I want her out of my life for good this time, Valen, and the girl in my story? I feel like it’s me. I don’t know how to give her a happy ending if my own personal villain is still roaming free.” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “Does that make me a bad person? That I want someone…gone?”
“No.” He kisses the side of my head. “It makes you human.”
“I don’t care if she’s in prison or dead though, so how does it make me any different from her?”
“Because we’re looking for justice, not revenge, and I’m not sure that line exists in her world.”
“I hate that you’re right,” I mutter.
He smiles. “Get used to it. I’m right a lot.”
I’m about to respond when my phone buzzes.
Then buzzes again.
And again.
The emergency text tree.
My stomach drops.
“Valen—”
He’s already reading over my shoulder.
Agnes: ALERT! Stranger spotted. Female, 50s, dark hair. Betty’s Diner. 6:15 a.m.
Betty: ALERT. Subject left diner, heading south on Main with a suspicious-looking group dressed all in black. Lost visual at the hardware store.
Mr. Huckabee: Anyone see her? Check in if you spot her.
“She’s here,” I whisper.
“We knew she would be, but how the hell did Rip’s cameras miss her?”
Anticipating a future situation and knowing the reality are two very different things.
My body switches from post-orgasm haze to survival mode so fast I get whiplash. Thirty seconds ago, I was safe, loved, whole.
Now my heart is slamming against my ribs and that familiar cold dread is crawling across my skin. But just as quickly, it’s rolling and twisting into something other than fear.
She’s here. In my town. Walking my streets. Breathing my air.
And I’m fucking pissed.
Valen’s phone rings, and he puts it on speaker.
“Stay where you are,” Roman says. “Do not leave the Chug. Rip has men in place, and I’m sending another team your way now.”
“Did you find her?” he asks.
