“That’s not what I asked.”
He steps closer. Close enough that the air shifts.
“You are not a liability. You are someone who walked into this by accident. And if anyone touches you because of me?—”
“Then what?” I challenge.
“Then I end it,” he says simply.
The certainty in it is terrifying.
I swallow.
“See, that’s what I’m trying to understand,” I say softly. “Is this escalating because I’m here? Or was it always going to happen?”
Zane answers this time. “It was always going to happen.”
Finn nods once. “You didn’t create it.”
“You accelerated visibility,” Ryder adds. “But you didn’t start it.”
That helps. Slightly.
“So,” I say, exhaling. “We’re not overreacting.”
“No,” Ryder says.
“And I’m not crazy for thinking this is bigger.”
“No,” Zane agrees.
Finn offers a crooked half smile. “Welcome to the less fun part of our lives.”
I stare at the three of them.
At the scars and the tension and the way they’re trying to shield me without saying that’s what they’re doing.
The Hollow is a tower, waiting for danger to come.
And I’m standing in the kitchen eating eggs as if this is just another morning.
I look at the three of them.
At the way Zane stands slightly angled toward me without realizing it.
At the way Finn’s humor has thinned into an expression more sharp and watchful.
At the way Ryder is already calculating outcomes like this is chess, and he refuses to lose a single piece.
I swallow.
“Okay,” I say finally. “Then I’m not staying.”
Silence.
Finn blinks. “Not staying as in…?”
“As in I pack my things. I leave town. Today.” My voice sounds steadier than I feel. “If I’m a pressure point, I remove the pressure point.”
