“Ash?” Da's voice cuts through my spiral. “You alright, son?”
“Fine,” I lie.
He studies me for a long moment. McCarthy eyes never miss anything. But thank fuck he doesn't push, just nods and turns back to Tiernan.
The next few minutes blur. Paramedics swarm in, efficient and professional. Tiernan curses them the entire time they load him onto the stretcher.
“Someone needs to go back to the warehouse,” Da says as they wheel Tiernan toward the door. “Ashland, you and Lorcan need to make sure everything's secured.”
Lorcan nods.
Da looks at me. “Go, son. Tiernan will be alright. Cleanthis up.” He claps me on the shoulder, then he and Declan follow the stretcher out.
It's busy work, and we both know it. The kind of task you give someone you need busy but don't want to trust with anything important. Da knows I'm preoccupied.
But I'm grateful for it because it gives me a reason to pull out my damn phone. My fingers shake as I open the security app and pull up the cabin's cameras.
She's fine. I know she is. I need to stop being so paranoid. She told me she'd stay, and where would she even fucking go?
The feed loads slow as fuck—my signal is weak in here.
Bedroom first—empty. Sheets are tangled like she got up in a hurry.
The fuck?
Kitchen? Empty.
Living room? Empty.
Where the fuck is she?
My heart's pounding. Then suddenly, she's there. I breathe out a sigh of relief.
She's there.
I drag in a ragged breath. She’s by the window, dressed—jeans, sweater, hair pulled back in a somehow sexy-as-fuck messy ponytail. I can already picture it wrapped aroundmy fist.
And then she turns and walks to the kitchen, and she?—
Wait.
She's not… limping.
Not even a little.
She's pacing back and forth, testing her weight on the ankle like there's nothing wrong with it. I told her not to walk on it yesterday. And there's no pain on her face, no hesitation.
Cold washes over me and turns my blood to ice.
She fucking faked it.
The tears. The pain. The way she winced when I touched her ankle. How she had to hold on to me so she wouldn't put any weight on it.
All of it was a performance, designed to make me think she was still injured and couldn't get away.
Un-fucking-believable.
I watch her go to where I’ve hidden her phone.
