The moment the thought settled that I couldn't run from what I was beginning to feel sleep finally pulled me under.
But it wasn't peaceful.
It never was
Somewhere between exhaustion and dreaming, I felt the echo of footsteps again. Not outside the door. Not in the house.
In my mind.
A shadow leaning over me.
A voice I'd spent months trying to outrun.
Ava… you still belong to me.
I jolted awake, breath sharp, heart slamming against my ribs. For a second I didn't know where I was the dim guest room, the faint scent of cedar from Elias's house, the soft glow of a hallway light slipping under the door.
Reality came back slowly.
I wasn't with him.
I wasn't trapped.
I wasn't alone.
Rowan's low voice drifted through the door, warm and steady.
"She had another nightmare. I heard her breathing change."
Elias answered, quieter but stronger. "Then we stay alert. He's getting closer."
Closer.
My pulse stuttered.
I slid off the bed, feet touching the cool floorboards, and moved toward the door. I didn't open it just leaned close enough to hear them.
Rowan exhaled. "She's holding all of this in. You can see it."
"So can you," Elias murmured.
"Yeah. But you pretend you don't feel anything."
A pause. Heavy. Unspoken.
"I feel enough," Elias said.
For some reason, that made my chest tighten.
Then Rowan's tone changed softer, worried.
"He won't stop, Eli. You know that."
"Yes," Elias replied. "But neither will we."
Those words steadied me more than sleep ever could.
And while I stood there, listening to the two of them guard a door like it was the only thing keeping me alive…
I didn't realize that somewhere far from this house in a different city, in a different darkness someone else was awake too.
Someone who wasn't supposed to know where I was.
Someone who still whispered my name like it was a promise he wasn't finished keeping..
EX's POV-BEGINING
He scrolled through his phone slowly, thumb tapping the screen with a kind of calm that didn't match the wildness simmering beneath it.
Ava Cole.
Last active: 2 minutes ago.
Interesting.
The motel room around him was silent except for the low hum of a broken air conditioner. Shadows spilled across cracked walls, but he didn't notice them. His eyes were fixed on the small digital trail she thought she'd erased.
She was running.
Again.
He smiled a sharp, knowing tilt of his mouth.
He liked when she ran.
Because she always ran the same way.
To quiet places.
To corners of the world she thought no one would look.
To people who couldn't protect her from him.
She still didn't understand.
You can't disappear from someone who knows how you breathe.
He stood up slowly, stretching his neck, cracking his knuckles. On the table beside him were scattered notes maps, torn receipts, a photo of her he kept pretending he didn't need.
His fingers brushed the edge of the picture.
"Soon," he murmured.
Not loud. Not angry.
Certain.
Because he had finally figured out one thing… the thing he had been waiting for:
Ava wasn't just hiding.
She was hiding with someone.
And that made this game so much interesting