A tear slipped out, trailing warm down her cheek. “I always loved you. I still do. I hope…wherever you are…you know that.”
Gone.
The box was empty. Matt was part of this place now.
Her chest hitched and a sob caught in her throat as the final pieces of him disappeared into the air.
“Goodbye.” The word broke as it passed her lips. She lowered the box slowly and stared out over the horizon. For a long minute, there was only the wind and the setting sun and the hollow ache of an ending.
She swiped the tears off her face and turned.
She froze.
A man stood a few feet away watching her. Recognition slammed into her with so much force it launched her heart into her throat.
Lucian Pike.
Every instinct inside her screamed at the same time—to run, fight, scream. But none of it mattered because Zee knew what she was dealing with.
A Navy SEAL.
The trained, lethal man who had tracked her across states.
“I thought you were in Michigan.”
He snorted. “As soon as I discovered I was being monitored, I gave a kid my card and told him to knock himself out.”
Her mind reeled, and she braced her knees to remain on her feet.
He took a slow step forward, cold gaze fixed on her. “Do you have it?”
Her pulse roared in her ears.
“The card,” he snapped. “The QR code.”
She forced the knot of fear down where he couldn’t see it. “You were with him.” Her voice shook despite her effort. “When he died.”
Lucian’s eyes narrowed, a flicker moving in his gaze. “I was.”
“Tell me what happened. Did he have any last words?”
“Yeah.” Lucian’s lips twisted. “He said, ‘You should have let me live—’ But he died before he could finish the sentence.”
Icy pain lanced through her. Her knees quivered, threatening to buckle. But if they buckled, she couldn’t run.
He continued studying her with that same cold, calculating expression in his eyes. “Then I realized he had something I needed. And I’ve been looking for it ever since.”
She forced her face to remain impassive. She couldn’t afford to give away anything now. Lucian didn’t know where the card was, so she still had time.
“So many ways Matt went wrong,” he went on in an almost conversational tone. “He should’ve minded his own business. Should’ve left things alone. But he didn’t, did he?”
Her vision blacked at the edges. With a jolt, she realized she was close to passing out. She couldn’t do that. She had to remain lucid so she could get out of this.
She sucked in a deep breath, and the oxygen seemed to push back the darkness a little.
“If I’m going to die anyway”—she forced the words through her throat that felt like flaming walls closing in—“you’re going to tell me everything.”
Lucian studied her for a long moment, then he shrugged as if sharing the story wouldn’t cost him anything. “He stuck his nose in business that wasn’t his. When we went on patrol, I was supposed to have his six.”
