“Does Sophie have a partner?” he asks. “Boyfriend? Husband?”
“Yes,” I say quickly. “But Nadia said he’s in Australia.” I shake my head slightly, trying to recall everything Nadia told me. “He’s hiking somewhere in the woods with his friends. She FaceTimed him so she knows he has nothing to do with this.”
I stop mid-sentence.
Woods.
My breath catches.
Lucien notices immediately.
“What?” he asks.
“The woods,” I whisper. My mind races. Dominic took me there. The cabin. The one his parents left him. My heart begins pounding again. “She might be there.”
Lucien’s eyes sharpen.
“What are you saying?”
“I know where to find her.” The words come out before I can stop them. I quickly pull out my phone and show him the address. Lucien looks at it for half a second before nodding.
“I’ll drive,” he says immediately.
I hesitate. Something about sitting in a closed car with him right now makes my chest tighten. Not because I’m afraid of him but because I’m afraid of myself.
“It’s probably best if I drive my car,” I say quietly. “And you drive yours.”
For a moment he just looks at me. Then Lucien steps back without saying anything. He walks toward his car and my heart sinks slightly.
But then he opens the passenger door.
“Get in the car, Sera.”
His voice is calm and firm. Not requesting but commanding. He moves around the front of the car and slides into the driver’s seat like the decision has already been made. I stand there for a second. My heart flutters low in my stomach in a way I don’t want to acknowledge. I force myself to push the feeling down.
This isn’t about him.
This is about Sophie.
I lock my car and walk toward the Mercedes, then I climb into the passenger seat. The drive is quiet, but not the kind that eases anything. Words sit heavy in your throat, waiting, neither of you daring to let them out.
I glance at Lucien. He’s focused on the road, his hands steady on the steering wheel, his jaw tight. He looks upset, angry. Not at me, at thesituation. Because we both know something else too. Once we start saying what we really feel… things between us might never be the same again.
The road stretches into darkness ahead of us, the headlights cutting through the night. Time passes faster than I realize. When I glance down at my watch, it’s already 9:00 p.m.
“We’re close,” I whisper.
A few minutes later the road narrows into the familiar dirt path leading into the woods. The cabin appears slowly through the trees. The last time I saw it, it looked charming, almost magical. A quiet little place hidden deep in the woods, surrounded by tall trees and soft lantern light.
Beautiful.
Peaceful.
But tonight…
Something about it feels different. The beauty is still there. The warm wooden structure. The small porch. The quiet clearing around it. But now it feels like beauty is hiding something. Something darker. Something sinister.
The fog curls low around the trees, drifting slowly across the ground like the forest itself is breathing. And suddenly I’m scared to know what happened here. Lucien parks the car, neither of us moves for a moment. Then we both step out.
