Cool air whips around my still-damp dress, and I hug my arms to my body. I am cold and wet and surrounded by more unblemished nature than I’ve ever seen.
He exhales slowly, his gaze unflinching as he takes it all in. “Sweetheart, I don’t think we’re in South Carolina anymore.”
Six
The forest is dense and endless. Towering trees loomoverhead, their thick branches knitting together to block out the sky. Sunlight slips through in shards, casting sharp beams over the moss-covered ground. The river snakes alongside us, our only real marker in this unfamiliar world.
“This is it, Gemma.” Alder’s voice breaks through the hush as he moves ahead of me effortlessly, his long strides cutting through the undergrowth like he’s been here before. “The impossible. The unexplainable. Do you understand what this means?”
I tighten my grip on a low-hanging branch as I duck beneath it, my ballet flats squelching against the soft earth.
“We’re walking into something no one’s prepared for,” he continues. “This is multiverse theory. This is the kind of shit that governments bury and billionaires weaponize.”
That sends a chill through me. Alder doesn’t speakin maybes. He doesn’t speculate. Heknows. This is what he does. He finds the cracks and exploits them before anyone else even knows they’re there. He spins chaos into opportunity, disaster into power. He’s built his empire by getting to the truth first. And now, he’s looking at this world like it’s the next story he’ll control.
I should be more frightened than I am. Should be planning, analyzing, trying to figure out our next move. But my mind is sluggish, trapped under the weight of exhaustion and the overwhelming reality that we are nowhere.
No phones. No roads. No signs of life.
But Alder is so sure. And he’s the only thing I recognize in this place. And, if anyone can get us back, it’s him.
“We are exactly where we’re supposed to be.”
I glance around the endless stretch of trees, my stomach tightening. “We are lost.”
Alder stops, turns. “Lost implies we don’t have options.” His lips curve slightly, the ghost of a smirk. “I always have options.”
He walks to me and places his hand on my lower back, steering me forward.
“Alder.” I exhale, forcing my feet to keep moving. “I’m trusting you to get us home.”
He looks down at me, gaze unreadable. Then, slowly, his smirk deepens. “You made the right choice.”
I don’t respond. I just keep walking. There’s nowhere else to go.
We trek in silence for a while, the sound of the river our only company. My thoughts swirl and tangle, forming a tight knot in my chest. This is too much. Toobig. Too unknown. And I made the decision to trust Alder Hawke completely, no matter the price.
What would Amanda say? And Mackenzie, if she knew… Well, she would probably say that it’s worth it, but she’s not here. Nobody is. No one except Alder.
And I’m already losing myself in him. Already slipping back into the pattern of letting him call all the shots.
I slow my steps and inhale deep breaths. “I need a minute.”
Alder’s head tilts slightly. But then he nods once, decisive. “Don’t go far.”
I walk farther into the trees. Thick branches tangle around me, blocking out this world and the reality I can’t process. I push deeper, past gnarled roots and ferns, until the shadows swallow me whole.
Finally, I stop and press my back against the cool bark of a moss-covered tree. My chest rises and falls in shallow, uneven pulls. I can’t get enough air. I’m drowning.
I woke up somewhere different than I fell asleep. Not just another bed, another bad decision, but a whole new world.
And worse—so much worse—I let myself fall back into him. I gave in. Stopped fighting.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I worked my ass off, made the smart choices, built something from nothing. And still, the ground caved beneath me.
Back in South Carolina, I chose to let Alder save me from the world, from myself. Yes, it was a moment of weakness that felt…unbelievably good, but I might nothave stuck to it if I’d woken up and the worst thing I had to do was the walk of shame to find my phone.
