When he finally speaks, his voice is colder than before. “Justwait and see.”
I hear footsteps retreat. A door opens. Closes. A lock clicks, the sound echoing too loudly in my ears.
I’m alone again.
Blindfolded. Tied. Shaking now that the adrenaline has nowhere to go.
I let myself breathe through it—slow and controlled. I catalog sensations instead of fear. The chair beneath me. The floor. The air.
I don’t know where I am. Or how long this will last.
But I know one thing with absolute certainty. Sebastian is coming.
And Silas has no idea what he’s in for.
58
SEBASTIAN
I stand outside the workshop with the night pressing in around me, replaying every decision, every assumption, every move that brought me here. The quiet gnaws at me, scraping against my nerves until the edge of my control dulls into something dangerous.
The realization settles slowly and heavily in my chest.
He wanted me here.
Silas sent me here to waste time.
I drag a hand down my face and force myself to breathe. Panic doesn’t solve problems. It never has.
Where would he take her?
My gaze lifts to the road, then to the trees. My phone beeps, and I pull it from my pocket. A message from Drew waits on the screen. “Did you find her?”
My fingers fly over my phone. “No.”
The dots bounce as he types. “Do you know who has her?”
I type his name, my jaw locking as I hit send.
My phone beeps a few seconds later. “You checked the workshop?”
“Yes. It’s empty,” I reply. The word tastes like failure, but I don’t let it root.
My phone rings. Drew’s name is on the screen.
“Yeah,” I answer, sharper than I mean to be.
“I looked at the map again,” he says. “Reeve Farms is the center.”
“He’d want somewhere he feels safe,” I say, thinking out loud. “But not somewhere that points back to him.”
“If he wanted to stay close but not predictable...” Drew trails off.
“Then ownership is a liability,” I finish.
Drew exhales. “Does he have a history of doing this?”
I summarize the PI’s report. The woman he stalked. The restraining order. The escalation. How much Ivy resembles her.
