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“Boss?” Rafe’s voice shifted. “You’re⁠—”

“I’m ready.”

“For?”

“For London’s meeting.”

Another pause.

Longer this time.

“Fuck.”

“Fuck indeed,” I said. “Bring the car around.”

“Alaric, I don’t think⁠—”

But I was already moving. Counting. Steps to the door. Distance to the frame. The slight shift in the air where the space opened.

“Then don’t think.” I murmured. “Just do.”

Cool air hit me as I stepped outside. I inhaled deeply. The house behind me settled into silence. The world ahead didn’t. The engine turned over somewhere beyond the curve of the drive. Gravel shifted beneath the tired as it moved toward me.

I tracked it without effort. Position. Distance. Timing. That’s what my life had become now. Perfectly executed timing. Exhaust fumes tasted like ash. My lips rough and coarse.

The car stopped. I moved, opening the door before Rafe could reach it. Slid inside. Buckled in. He muttered something under his breath. Didn’t matter what it was.

“This is a bad idea.”

I turned my head toward the window. Not to see. To listen. The trees were still. The wind low. The space too quiet for what was coming. Then⁠—

Movement.

Engines. Distant. Building.

The world thickening.

“Drive.”

For once, he was silent. Still—I felt it. The turn taken too sharply. The engine gunned too hard. Rafe didn’t need to speak. I knew.

I didn’t need the skin to tell me night had fallen. Didn’t need the neon lights or the stars. She came anyway. Big brown eyes. Too bright. Too alive. They way they caught the light when she laughed⁠—

Daddy.

My jaw tightened.

Watch this…

The sound cut off. Pain hit—sharp, sudden—like something splitting open inside my chest. I swallowed it down. Hard. The car turned. I missed it. Seconds gone. I dragged my focus back, tracking the movement again—the shift of the tires, the press of the road, the hum of engines around us.

Another turn.

Slower now.

Then—we stopped.

This time I waited. Counted the seconds. Tracking the shift of sound as the car settled. I pressed the buckle release as the door opened. Rafe said nothing as I climbed out. He didn’t need to.