“I’m just out driving. I needed some air. Tonight’s been . . . a lot.”
“Kendra.” His voice hardened. “You need to tell me where you are.”
“Why should I? This is all your fault, you know.”
Max’s jaw tightened. “What are you talking about?”
“You made me do this.” Her voice remained eerily calm. “You wouldn’t listen. You kept pushing me away like none of it mattered. Like I didn’t matter.”
“That’s not?—”
“You chose her.”
The accusation cut through him.
For a split second, he didn’t know how to respond.
Hadley’s face flashed through his mind. What was Kendra planning on doing with her?
“This isn’t about Hadley.” He forced the words out. “Kendra, you need to stop. Let her go.”
“What fun would that be?Youshould let her go. Drop this whole thing. It would be a shame if your parole officer discovered you’d assaulted another man. I’d hate to see you go back to prison. But even if you did, I’d be there for you. I’m that kind of person. Loyal to the end.”
Another pause stretched across the line.
This time, Max leaned harder into the quiet and listened.
A faint, rhythmic sound whispered in the background.
A low, distant rumble that came and went beneath the line. It wasn’t wind or an engine. It was something heavier.
Metal on metal.
A train, Max realized.
The sound grew louder, then faded again, as if it were moving past.
“Kendra.” He kept his voice steady even as his mind raced. “You don’t have to do this. Whatever you think happened between us, this isn’t the answer.”
“You don’t get to decide that.” The calm in her voice was worse than anger. “You’ve always thought you knew what was best. For everyone. But you don’t. You didn’t with Sarah . . . and you don’t now.”
Max’s breath caught at the mention of Sarah. But he couldn’t let Kendra get to him. She was playing mind games.
“Kendra, listen to me. You’re not thinking clearly. Whatever you’ve done, we can fix this. But you have to tell me where you are.”
For a moment, he thought she might answer.
The line stayed open. The faint rumble of the train echoed again, closer this time, then began to fade.
“I wanted you to understand,” she finally said.
A chill slid through him. “Understand what?”
“That you can’t just use people and then discard them like they meant nothing.”
The line went dead.
Max lowered the phone, his mind already racing. “She’s near a train track.”
