Three minutes isn’t mercy. It’s a challenge.
“And if you catch me,” I say, keeping my voice level, “we fight?”
“Sure.” His mouth curves, just a little. “But my mind is changing the more you speak.”
My pulse jumps despite myself.
“Changing?” I ask.
He nods once. Calm. Certain. “There are more enjoyable things for me than fighting.”
My body stills.
“Like?”
“Like fucking you Ayla.”
That sentence shifts something. It changes the shape of the threat.
“Three minutes,” I repeat, grounding myself in the number. “And if youdon’tcatch me?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “I will.”
I lift my chin. “But if you don’t?”
His eyes lock on mine, sharp and intent, like he’s already tracking me in his head.
“Then you better run far, far away, Beda.”
The words land heavy. A warning wrapped in something worse.
I don’t give him the satisfaction of another question.
I swipe the knife off the ground and turn.
The woods swallow me the second I break into a run—branches snapping, leaves slick under my boots, my breath burning fast and clean in my chest. I don’t think. I don’t look back. I let instinct take over, the part of me that learned early how to disappear, how to move like being caught meant something far worse than death.
Three minutes.
I run like I intend to use every second of them. If he catches me…
I shudder.
No. Fuck no. He’s not hunting me.I’ll hunt him.
I have to get above.
I scan the darkness ahead, lungs already aching, and spot it—a thick oak with low branches, sturdy enough to hold my weight. I veer hard left, boots skidding on wet leaves, and launch myself at the trunk.
My fingers find bark. I pull, scramble, ignoring the way my shoulders scream. The brass knuckles make my grip awkward, but I don’t drop them. Can’t. They’re the only advantage I have besides the knife he gave me tucked into my waistband.
Up. Higher. I need height.
The branches thicken as I climb, offering better cover. My breath comes in short gasps now, each one tasting like pine and panic. I force myself to slow down, to move carefully. One broken branch and he’ll know exactly where I am.
How much time do I have left?
Two minutes? One?
