Then I see it. A second set of tracks cutting across hers.
My body stills, not from panic, but from something colder, sharper, more precise. I recognize the pattern immediately.
He’s here. He’s been here. And now he’s following her.
“Bad move,” I say quietly, not to her, but to him.
I pick up the pace, not reckless, never reckless, but faster now, more direct. I don’t need to be careful anymore. I just need to get to her first.
The forest thickens as I move, the light fading as the trees close in, the air growing heavier, quieter, until every sound carries farther than it should.
Then I hear it. A branch snapping ahead, close, too close.
I move faster, closing the distance in seconds, my eyes tracking, scanning, locking onto movement as it breaks through the trees.
Then I see her.
Maddie stumbles into a small clearing, her breath ragged, her movements uneven like she’s pushed herself too far and refuses to slow down.
“Stop,” I call out.
She spins, eyes wide, panic flashing across her face before recognition hits. “Ethan?—”
“What are you doing?” I snap, crossing the distance between us.
“I had to?—”
“No, you didn’t.”
Her jaw tightens, defiance flaring even now. “You don’t get to tell me what I?—”
“You ran,” I cut in. “Alone, in the dark, with someone tracking you.”
“I’m trying to keep you out of it.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“Yes, it is,” she fires back, her voice breaking now as the fear finally comes through. “He’s after me, not you. If I leave?—”
“He follows you,” I say, stepping closer. “Which is exactly what he wants.”
She shakes her head and backs up a step. “No, he wants me isolated.”
“You’re more isolated now than you were in my cabin. Fuck—my cabin has a military-level security system, Maddie.”
That stops her, at least for a second, and then the guilt hits, settling into her expression, sharp and heavy.
“I’m not dragging you into this,” she says, quieter now. “I won’t.”
“Too late.”
“I mean it, Ethan.”
“So do I.”
We’re close now, the space between us tight with tension, but this time it’s not just about attraction. It’s about control, about fear, about the fact that she almost got herself hurt because she thinks she has to do this alone.
“You don’t get to make that call,” I say.
