---
“We’re not leaving,” Maddox said the second the door closed behind him.
Liam blinked. “I’m sorry — what?”
“You just said—” I started.
“I said we’re leaving tonight because that’s what he expected me to say,” Maddox snapped. “If we run, we’re easier to find. We stay. We plan.”
“That’s your plan?” Liam said, incredulous. “Sit around and wait for the guys in the creepy SUV to come back?”
“Not wait,” Maddox said coldly. “Prepare.”
I crossed my arms, heart pounding. “Prepare for what?”
He hesitated — just long enough to scare me.
“For them to try again.”
Silence.
I felt the walls of the house close in. The air was too heavy, my pulse too loud.
“One week,” I whispered.
Maddox nodded once. “Seven days to figure out how to keep you alive.”
I sank onto the couch, my legs suddenly weak.
Liam sat next to me, close enough that I felt the warmth of him, grounding me. “Then we don’t waste time,” he said. “We train, we watch, we set traps if we have to. Whatever it takes.”
Maddox’s expression darkened, but for once, he didn’t argue.
“Fine,” Maddox said. “But this isn’t a game, Liam. You screw around, and she gets hurt.”
“I’m not screwing around,” Liam said, his tone sharper than I’d ever heard it. “I’m not letting her face this alone.”
My throat tightened. “Can we not talk about me like I’m not in the room?”
They both looked at me, and for a second, I hated how serious they both were.
Because in that moment, I realized something terrifying:
This wasn’t just Maddox’s fight anymore.
It was mine too.
And if we didn’t figure out what they wanted before the week was over — someone wasn’t going to make it out of this.
---
