Chapter 6
The pursuing SUV slowed so abruptly its headlights dipped.
Elena watched through the back window as another pair of black vehicles emerged from the darkness behind it, not crashing, not threatening openly, just appearing where no road should have given them time to appear.
The men chasing her were being boxed in.
She should have felt relief.
Instead, fear rose again.
Because people with this much control rarely came without a price.
Matthew saw the change in her face.
“What are you thinking?”
“That I escaped men who wanted to buy me and got into a car with a man who owns a road.”
His mouth did not smile.
“Fair.”
The answer made her blink.
“You’re not offended?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re right to be afraid.”
The honesty hit harder than comfort.
The driver spoke through his earpiece, voice low.
“Rear wall established. Pursuers contained but mobile.”
Matthew looked toward the rear window.
“Do not engage. Maintain distance.”
Elena watched him carefully.
“You keep telling them not to hurt anyone.”
His eyes returned to hers.
“Because you’re in the car.”
“And if I weren’t?”
Silence.
There was the answer.
Not spoken.
Not denied.
Elena pulled the coat tighter.
Matthew looked away first.
“I won’t pretend to be harmless.”
“No one harmless has a convoy.”
“No.”
“But you stopped for me.”
His gaze sharpened slightly.
“You opened my door.”
“You told your driver to wait.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
This time, the silence lasted longer.
Rain beat against the roof. Tires hissed over flooded pavement. The driver breathed steadily through the tense dark.
Matthew finally said, “Because you looked more afraid of the people behind you than of me.”
Elena swallowed.
“I still am.”
“Good.”
“That’s a strange thing to say.”
“It means your instincts still work.”
Her eyes filled before she could stop them.
The medical packet sat untouched between them.
Matthew did not push it closer.
The pursuing SUV’s headlights flickered as it swerved slightly, searching for a gap.
There was none.
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The road had closed around it like a fist.
Read Chapter 7 👉 Because Matthew did not ask Elena to ignore her fear; he told her it was the reason she had survived.
