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After going through Bardem's financials, they'd found more than one escapade with Anna Longshadow. He'd met up with her the night she'd gone missing. Had he been planning on killing her all along? Or had she said something?
Now, they would never know.
She returned her attention to Ethan.
Rachel felt a shiver run through her, not from the cold but from a creeping fear that gnawed at her insides. The silence seemed to suffocate her thoughts as they raced unbidden.
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, her fingers entwined tightly.
Her mind replayed their last conversation, the casual banter that had always come so easily between them. But unspoken words hung heavy between her thoughts now—words of concern, of depth, words that might never reach his ears.
A surge of protectiveness welled up within her, fierce and unexpected. She would not let fear win. She would not crumble—not when he needed her strength.
The steady beep of the heart monitor punctuated the silence, a metronome to Ethan's shallow breaths. Rachel's eyes traced the outline of his face, softened in slumber, the furrow between his brows smoothed out by either peace or pain—she couldn't tell which. Moonlight seeped through the slats of the blinds, casting a ghostly glow across his features, lending him an ethereal quality she'd never seen in him before.
Her hand rested near his, the space between them charged with unspoken words. She could almost feel the pulse of his life force, a beat away from intertwining with hers.
In her mind, scenarios played out like scenes from a film she couldn't pause. Her thoughts were heading in a strange direction. If she told him what she was thinking... how might he react? His reaction—a myriad of possibilities. But all that mattered was the truth breaking free.
She stared at him. "I... I think about you sometimes," she said softly towards his slumbering form.
She felt stupid.
He couldn't hear her.
"We need... need to talk," she said. Then scowled. "So don't die on me, asshole."
She stood to her feet.
He was going to recover. She repeated the doctor's words in her mind, and it gave her no small amount of relief.
She cared for Ethan Morgan.
Maybe more than she was willing to admit.
She shook her head, biting her lip.
The quiet was suddenly split by the shrill ring of her phone. Rachel’s body tensed, the noise an intruder that shattered the fragile silence. With a swift motion, she fished the device from her pocket, the screen casting a cold glow on her face.
She turned away when she spotted who the number was from.
"Thomas?"
"Rachel."
"You got it?"
"Yes. But what is--"
"I'm coming to you. Don't move."
She hung up, turning and hurrying from the room. Ethan would recover. He had too. There was so much that still needed to be said between them.
Epilogue
Rachel pulled up in her unmarked car alongside Thomas' SUV.
He was parked in the structure behind the Ranger station, frowning at her as she drew close. His features were severe, but his eyes betrayed them, holding a kindness set in his copper skin. His hair was neatly trimmed, and his bold nose was slightly crooked from a bad break.
