For a heartbeat, everything inside me stopped.
My brother Ethan stood frozen in the doorway, just as shocked as I was, his chest rising and falling like he'd sprinted the whole way here. His eyes moved over me first… then flicked sharply to Rowan… then to Elias.
Rowan's hand instinctively moved a little closer to my back.
Elias didn't even blink.
Ethan swallowed hard. "Ava… what are you doing here?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. The room felt too small. Too tight. Too full of unspoken things.
Elias stepped forward slightly, not threatening just present. "She's safe here."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Safe? With them?"
Rowan raised a brow. "Nice to meet you too, big brother."
Ethan ignored him entirely. His eyes locked on mine again raw, worried, and something else. Something protective. Something haunted.
"I've been looking for you," he said. "I came to Crescent City because of him."
My blood went cold. "You mean—?"
"Yes," Ethan said quietly. "Your ex."
Rowan straightened. Elias's eyes sharpened like a blade leaving a sheath.
Ethan stepped inside fully, closing the door behind him as if expecting something to burst through after him. "Ava… he's not just obsessing. He's not just following you. He's been planning something. For months."
My voice shook. "What are you talking about?"
Ethan exhaled shakily. "You didn't just leave him. You left with something he thinks belongs to him."
I froze.
Rowan's expression darkened.
Elias's face went unreadably still.
"What… what does that mean?" I whispered.
Ethan hesitated just long enough for dread to crawl up my spine.
Then he said it.
"Ava… you took the flash drive."
My stomach dropped.
Rowan blinked. "What flash drive?"
Ethan looked between them all, voice barely above a whisper.
"The one with evidence. About what he's been doing. About the people he's hurt. About what he plans to do next."
My knees went weak.
Rowan caught my arm.
Elias stepped closer.
Ethan continued, breath shaking. "He needs that drive. Without it, his whole operation collapses. And now that he knows you're not alone…"
He looked at the Hale brothers again, eyes narrowing.
"…he'll see them as obstacles."
Rowan muttered, "Awesome. Love that for us."
But Elias… Elias went utterly still.
Not scared.
Not confused.
Focused.
"Ava," he said softly, turning toward me, "where's the drive?"
My heart hammered.
Because the truth hit me like a lightning strike.
"I… I don't have it anymore," I whispered.
Rowan blinked. "What?"
Elias froze.
Ethan stared at me like I'd slapped him.
I swallowed hard, panic rising. "I hid it. Weeks ago. Before I left. I didn't want him to find it on me."
Ethan grabbed his hair. "Ava, please tell me you remember where."
My throat tightened.
Because I did remember.
And it was worse than any of them expected.
"It's at home," I whispered.
"Back in the apartment he still has a key to."
Silence slammed through the room.
Rowan cursed under his breath.
Ethan's eyes widened in horror.
Elias closed his eyes slowly, like a man calculating a thousand outcomes at once.
Then he opened them dark, steady, certain.
"We're going back," Elias said.
Rowan nodded once. "Then we're not going alone."
Ethan exhaled. "He won't let you walk in and out."
Elias's jaw tightened. "I'm counting on that."
My pulse thundered. "No….no, I can't go back there. I—"
Elias stepped closer, his voice soft but unshakably firm.
"Ava. This is the last piece he wants. The last thing tying him to you. Once we have it, we end this."
Rowan slid his hand into mine, warm and grounding. "We won't let him touch you. Not even for a second."
Ethan looked at both of them, tension bleeding into exhausted gratitude.
Then he turned to me.
"Ava… this is our one chance to finish this. All of it."
And as the weight of that truth settled around us…
A noise echoed from outside.
A soft crunch.
A faint shift of gravel.
Too precise to be the wind.
Elias's head snapped toward the window.
Rowan's grip on my hand tightened.
Ethan moved closer to me instinctively.
My breath caught.
Because I knew that sound.
He didn't wait.
He didn't hesitate.
He didn't give us time.
He had followed the pattern.
And he had found them.