Not entirely from fear.
The sound of movement cuts through the conversation.
Ethan.
He steps back into view a second later, his expression just as cold, just as focused—but now there’s something else under it.
Purpose.
“Found him?” Hudson asks.
Ethan nods once. “Yeah.”
“Where?”
Ethan’s gaze flicks to me briefly.
Then back to the others.
“Close enough,” he says.
The way he says it sends a chill down my spine.
Not because I’m scared of the man in the woods.
But because I’m starting to understand something else entirely.
He’s going after him.
And nothing is going to stop him.
Chapter 14
Ethan
Ifind him faster than I should.
That’s how sloppy he is.
That’s how far gone.
He stopped thinking like a man who wants to stay hidden the second he decided she belonged to him.
Now he’s thinking like someone who believes he’s already won.
That’s the mistake.
I track his tracks through the lower ridge, cutting through the denser part of the forest where the ground dips and the trees close in tighter. The air shifts as I move—colder, quieter—and every instinct I have locks into place, sharp and focused. The others follow behind me, but they know better than to crowd me now. This part?
This part is mine.
My jaw tightens.
I move faster.
Branches scrape against my jacket as I push through the last line of trees, stepping into a clearing just in time to see him clearly.
My vision narrows.
