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“They thought it was Ethan,” Colt says, venom lacing his voice.

Everyone turns to him.

“You were driving his car,” he points out. “They know every car he owns, what he usually drives. They probably thought he left with the Porsche today.”

“What do you mean?” Thalia asks, horror flashing across her face.

Ethan curses under his breath, his jaw tightening hard enough for the muscle to twitch.

“It’s okay, kitten,” he says, trying to calm her as he immediately pulls her closer. “We have security everywhere. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“We had security, and look what happened to Zayn,” she shoots back, panic thickening every word.

“Because he left without security,” Colt adds sharply.

“Jesus,” I mutter with a tired smile. “Easy.”

“If you’d been here when nobody could reach you,” Sierra says coldly, throwing me a warning look, “or when Selene broke down the second she realized you were the one inside the car at the bottom of the ravine, you wouldn’t be smiling right now.”

My sister’s words make my chest tighten even more. I picture Selene shattered, crying, barely able to breathe, convinced she’d lost me.

And that hits harder than the crash itself.

I don’t even want to know what went through her head in those moments. What she felt. How terrified she must have been.

Selfishly, I never want to be in that position. I never want to experience even a second of believing she’s gone.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper against her hair, pressing a soft kiss to it. “I left Hartho and wanted to come straight home,” I tell the others, even though I already explained everything at the hospital.

“Nobody goes anywhere without security anymore,” Ryan announces this time. “Absolutely nobody.” He pauses, his gaze sweeping across all of us. “Absolutely nowhere.”

We all nod in agreement, Selene tightening her arms around me.

“It’s obvious he wants us to know he’s still there. Still a threat,” Colt suddenly says.

“That doesn’t mean we stop living our lives normally,” Ethan says seriously. “Nothing changes.”

“Are you sure you’re safe?” Thalia asks, just as terrified as before.

Ethan doesn’t answer her right away. Instead, he shoots Colt a pointed look.

“Everyone is safe,” Colt says firmly. “We just need to follow the rules. Bodyguards at home, in the car, another car following behind, security at work, while shopping, at Serena’s daycare.”

That last part makes all of us fall silent for a long moment.

It took forever for us to decide whether Serena should even go to daycare in the first place. When we finally agreed that we can’t keep her locked inside the house out of fear, we made sure every possible safety measure was in place. The building is practically a fortress. Nobody gets in without authorization.

That still doesn’t mean we aren’t scared.

“The first time we didn’t expect it,” Aiden says. “And now security was simply missing,” he adds. “Look around. Look how protected we are. Look at the people on our security teams. Nobody can get close to us if we make sure protection is always there.”

“Today’s accident could’ve been avoided very easily if Zayn had his team with him,” Noah states.

“Yeah,” Ethan agrees, pressing a soft kiss to Thalia’s forehead. “There’s no reason to panic, kitten.”

She melts into his arms almost instantly, some of the tension finally easing from her features.

“Now I’d really like to know how the hell you decided to jump out of the car,” Colt says with a laugh, shifting his attention to me.