Mia’s breath hitched as the words settled over her like a suffocating weight. Her father had known all along. He had known who had killed her mother. And he had kept it from her.

  Ronan stood still, his face unreadable, but there was something in the set of his shoulders—a quiet tension, a barely restrained energy—that made her skin prickle.

  “Why would they be searching for me?” Mia’s voice trembled, barely above a whisper.

  Her father’s lips pressed into a firm line as if forcing himself to remain silent. But she could see the truth in his eyes—the fear, the desperation.

  “You need to trust me,” he said, his voice laced with weariness.

  Mia clenched her fists. “Trust you? You’ve lied to me for years! You let me believe that Mom’s murder was some unsolvable mystery, some tragedy that had no answers. All this time, you knew, and you let me suffer in ignorance! And they’re not human? What?”

  Gregory Vance exhaled sharply and turned away, running a hand through his graying hair. “I did it to protect you.”

  “From what?” she demanded. “Who are they? And why would they want me?”

  Ronan took a step closer, his gaze steady and piercing. “That’s what I’m here to prevent. Your father hired me because the people who took your mother’s life won’t stop until they have what they want. And that includes you.”

  A shiver ran through her. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Her father finally turned back to her, his expression tight with unspoken words. “It doesn’t have to. You just have to listen.”

  Mia scoffed. “No. I refuse to just listen. I deserve answers. I deserve the truth!”

  Ronan exhaled heavily. “The truth is dangerous.”

  “So is ignorance,” she shot back.

  Her father let out a harsh breath and turned to Ronan. “You have one job. Keep her safe. No matter what it takes.”

  Ronan gave a single nod. “Understood.”

  Mia felt the walls closing in on her, her reality shifting in ways she couldn’t grasp. She needed air. She needed out.

  Her father left the next morning without another word and before she woke, his absence was thick in the silence he left behind. Mia saw the empty parking spot and the long empty winding road, and for the first time, the weight of her situation settled heavily on her shoulders.

  She was alone with Ronan now.

  The cabin felt different without her father there, emptier, colder. She found Ronan, who stood near the fireplace, methodically stacking firewood. The ease with which he carried the large bundle was not lost on her, neither was the way his biceps flexed as he used one arm to hold and one to stack.

  “You really think this place will keep me safe?” she asked, arms crossed.

  Ronan didn’t look up. “It’s remote. Secure. That’s all that matters.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  She huffed, pacing across the worn wooden floor. “I can’t just sit here like some trapped animal.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  Mia stopped, narrowing her eyes at him. “Tell me why you’re here.”

  His hands stilled, his gaze finally meeting hers. “To fulfill the contract your father hired us for.”

  “Who is ‘us’?”

  His jaw tightened. “That’s not relevant.”

  She took a step closer, challenging him, feeling that ripple of something across her skin. “It seems pretty relevant to me.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he brushed debris from his shirt and walked past her, heading toward the kitchen.

  Mia followed him, unwilling to let the conversation drop. “My father trusts you, but I don’t even know who you are. For all I know, you could be just as dangerous as the people after me.”

  Ronan turned abruptly, piercing blue eyes dark with something unreadable. “You’re right. You don’t know me.” He stepped closer, his presence overpowering. “But I know who’s coming for you, and I know what they’re capable of. So whether you trust me or not, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m the only thing standing between you and them.”

  A lump formed in her throat. She hated that he was right. Hated that she felt vulnerable. Hated that she would concede the fight as she always did.

  She closed her eyes to block the intense expression hardening his face. He was devastatingly beautiful and she had to fight the urge to reach out to touch him. Finally, she made herself walk away, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

  That night, long after the house had fallen silent, she made her move.

  The moment she pushed the window open, a rush of cold night air greeted her. Her pulse pounded in her ears as she swung her legs over the ledge, her feet hitting the soft earth below with a muted thud. The forest loomed ahead, calling to her like it always had, but the darkness held her captive in place for what felt like an eternity. She loathed the shadowy depths she couldn’t see into, the strange noises but the memories of it most of all.

  But she was so close to freedom. Just a few steps away, really, and she could slip back home to demand her father give her answers. She didn’t have a phone or computer anymore so what choice did she have if she wanted to talk to him?

  She barely made it three paces before a hand clamped around her wrist.

  Mia gasped, twisting to break free, but the grip was unyielding.

  “Don’t,” a deep voice murmured behind her.

  She turned, breathless, to find Ronan standing there, his expression dark and knowing.

  “Let me go,” she whispered, “please.”

  Ronan didn’t release her. Instead, he studied her with an intensity that made her stomach tighten. “You don’t understand what’s out there, Mia. This isn’t just about keeping you hidden. It’s about keeping you alive.”

  She swallowed, shaking her head. “You can’t keep me locked away like a prisoner.”

  His jaw tightened. “I’m not your jailer.”

  “Then what are you?” she challenged, eyes narrowing.

  For a moment, something flickered in his expression—something raw and unguarded. Then it was gone, replaced by the hardened mask he had worn since she met him.

  “I’m your last line of defense,” he shrugged. “And whether you like it or not, I’m not letting you face this alone.”

  Mia pulled her arm free, stepping back, her heart hammering. “I'm not afraid of you. You can't just intimidate me into staying.”

  His expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker of something behind his eyes. “Go back inside, Mia,” he said quietly. “You don’t want to see what happens when real danger finds you.”

  The warning sent a chill down her spine. Because, for the first time since meeting him, she realized something unsettling.

  Ronan wasn’t afraid of the danger.

  He was part of it.

  Would you sneak out the window, too, or stick around?