He turned to face me, his eyes guarded, but not in the same way they had been before. There was a flicker of something in them now—something close to hope. It made my chest tighten, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“We need a plan,” I said, my voice firm. “We can’t keep running. You can’t keep hiding from these people. We have to face them.”
Nate didn’t respond right away. He just stared at me, his expression unreadable. I could see the conflict in his eyes, the weight of everything pressing down on him.
“I don’t want to drag you into this,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I know it is,” I replied, sitting down across from him. “But I’m not backing down. I can’t. You’re my family, and we fight for family. I don’t care how dangerous it gets, Nate. You’re not alone anymore.”
His shoulders slumped as if a weight had been lifted, and he let out a long breath, almost as if he had been holding it for far too long. Slowly, he removed his gloves, setting them on the table, his bare hands trembling slightly as they rested on the surface.
“I don’t know how to fight them,” he said quietly. “They’ve been tracking me for so long. I’ve always been alone in this. But I don’t know how to stop running either.”
I reached across the table, placing my hand on his. It was warm, but I could feel the tension in his fingers. He wasn’t just physically weary—he was emotionally drained too, carrying the weight of his past with him every moment of every day.
“You’re not alone now,” I said, squeezing his hand. “We’ll figure this out together. We’ll find out who’s behind this, who’s been controlling your life all these years, and we’ll make them stop.”
Lila was standing in the doorway, watching us silently. I glanced at her, and she gave me a small, tentative smile, her eyes full of concern but also something else. Maybe hope. Maybe a belief that, just maybe, we could do this.
“I’m with you,” she said softly, stepping into the room and joining us at the table. “We’ll face this together, all of us. We’ll find a way to keep Nate safe.”
