Rain hammered the windshield as the SUV tore through the empty industrial district, tires slicing across wet pavement. The white sedan stayed behind them like a ghost close enough to threaten, far enough to torment.
Aria kept her eyes locked on the rear window, her pulse a frantic, uneven rhythm.
"Caspian…" she whispered.
"Don't look back."
His voice was a blade, too sharp, cutting.
"But if it's her"
"It's not."
"How do you know?"
His jaw flexed once, hard.
"Because she wouldn't follow in the open."
That answer sent a chill through her not about the sedan.
About her own mother.
Rafael scanned the mirrors. "They're matching our speed. They want us to react."
"And we won't," Caspian muttered.
Aria swallowed. "What do you mean, we won't? They're right there"
"We wait," Caspian said. "We let them get confident. Then we disappear."
She stared at him, stunned. "How do you just turn fear off like that?"
"I don't."
He didn't look at her, but his voice dropped, quieter, darker.
"I just hide it better."
Something in her chest tugged painfully.
He was terrified.
He just wouldn't let her see it.
Wouldn't let anything touch her except him.
Lightning flashed.
And in that split-second burst of white…
Aria saw it.
A figure.
Standing on top of a shipping container ahead.
Still, silent.
Watching.
Her blood froze.
"The Shadow," she whispered.
Caspian's entire body went rigid.
Rafael swore. "He's here? How the hell…"
The SUV slammed into a puddle as Caspian jerked the wheel. "Hold on."
The Shadow didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Just stared at their car like he was choosing who would die first.
Aria's stomach twisted. "Caspian, he's going to jump…"
Before she could finish…
He vanished.
Not jumped.
Just disappeared from the container.
Aria gasped. "Where did he…"
A metallic thud shook the roof.
He was on top of the car.
Caspian slammed his palm on the wheel. "Son of a…"
Rafael twisted around. "He's cutting through!"
Rain streaked down the back window in harsh lines, and between them Aria saw it:
A blade slicing into the metal roof, sparks flying.
Caspian growled, "You're not touching her."
He jerked the SUV left, fast.
Aria slammed into the door. Caspian grabbed her waist, pulling her against him to steady her.
His grip was too tight.
Too desperate.
Too terrified.
"Caspian…"
"Don't move," he breathed against her ear.
"Don't you dare move."
A shiver ran all the way down her spine.
The Shadow struck again.
The blade punched a hole through the roof, missing Rafael's shoulder by inches.
Aria cried out. "We have to stop him!"
Caspian's hand slid from her waist to her thigh, anchoring her down. "I said stay still."
Her breath tangled. She hated how much her body obeyed him. Hated how safe she felt when she shouldn't.
"Rafael, window!" Caspian barked.
Rafael lowered the back passenger window halfway.
The air blasted in violent, howling.
Caspian timed it perfectly.
He accelerated, swerved and braked all at once.
The SUV jolted violently.
The Shadow slid forward on the roof, straight past the open window and Rafael fired twice.
Not to kill.
To knock him off.
The Shadow tumbled off the roof onto the pavement, rolling like a phantom swallowed by darkness.
Aria's pulse refused to slow. "Is he… dead?"
"No."
Caspian's tone was grim.
"He doesn't die that easy."
The white sedan was still behind them.
Still following.
Still waiting.
"What do they WANT?" Aria choked out.
Caspian didn't answer, because he didn't know.
And that scared him more than anything.
The SUV raced under a rusted overpass. Rain clattered against metal like war drums.
Caspian's breathing was heavy now and uneven.
Aria touched his arm. "Are you okay?"
He flinched.
Like her touch burned him.
"Don't," he said quietly.
She pulled back, hurt. "I just.."
"Don't," he repeated, stronger. "Not right now."
Rafael glanced between them through the mirror, eyes narrowing slightly.
Aria whispered, "I'm trying to help"
"You touch me again and I'll forget the difference between protecting you and losing my mind over you."
She froze.
His hands tightened on the wheel.
He wasn't kidding.
"Caspian…" she whispered.
He swallowed hard.
Too hard.
His jaw trembled once, betraying him.
"This isn't the time," he rasped.
But his voice betrayed something else entirely.
That he needed her touch.
That he was starving for it.
That pushing her away was tearing him apart, thread by thread.
The SUV screeched to a brutal halt under the overpass, tires slicing across the wet concrete.
"Why are we stopping?" Aria whispered, breath trembling.
"Because they think they're cornering us," Caspian murmured, unbuckling his seatbelt with slow, lethal precision.
His voice dropped into something feral.
"But they're wrong."
Rafael clicked in two fresh magazines. "You ready?"
For a single heartbeat, Caspian leaned back exhaling like a man preparing to walk into hell.
Then he looked at Aria.
Really looked.
As if memorizing her.
"You stay in the car. Door locked. Don't move."
She shook her head. "Caspian"
He moved before she could finish, hand sliding to the back of her neck, pulling her in until her forehead touched his.
Her breath vanished.
Her pulse exploded.
His whisper scorched her lips. "I can't do this if I'm worried about you."
"Then don't leave me," she breathed.
His thumb brushed her throat slowly , aching, sinful.
A touch too intimate.
A promise he had no right to make.
"I'll come back," he said.
"For you."
Her heart shattered and bloomed all at once.
And then…
A shape materialized in the side mirror.
Standing, watching.
The Shadow.
Back from the pavement.
Unhurt and waiting.
Caspian's breath hardened to steel.
"Rafael."
His voice was pure ice.
"He's here."
Aria grabbed his coat. "Don't go out there, please"
He didn't hesitate this time.
He pulled her in.
Not for a forehead kiss.
Not something safe.
His mouth crashed into hers.
A fierce, shattered, an intense claiming kiss
wet with rain, sharp with fear, hungry with everything he'd never said aloud.
His fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her closer, devouring her like this might be the last moment he ever had.
Her hands fisted in his shirt as heat tore through her, drowning out the danger, the world, everything but him.
When he finally tore away, his breath trembled against her lips.
"Lock. The. Door."
Then he stepped out into the rain, straight toward The Shadow.
And the last thing Aria saw before the door slammed shut…
was Caspian drawing his gun with a look that said:
Tonight, someone doesn't walk away.