Chapter 7
The driver turned onto a narrower estate road.
The trees closed tighter.
For one terrifying second, Elena thought he was taking her somewhere even more isolated.
Matthew saw her body tense.
“Where are we going?”
The driver answered only after Matthew nodded.
“Alternate exit route. Better visibility ahead. Less access for the rear car.”
Elena looked at Matthew.
“Exit to where?”
“Not back.”
The answer came fast.
It was all she needed for the next breath.
The pursuing vehicle tried to follow the turn, but one of Matthew’s SUVs slid smoothly between them, forcing it to slow. No collision. No violence. Just a wall of black metal and timing.
Elena pressed one hand to her chest.
Her heart felt too loud.
Matthew’s phone buzzed once.
He glanced down.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
He did not answer.
She hated that.
Secrets had corners. She had been trapped in them too often.
“What?” she repeated, sharper.
Matthew looked at her.
“The men behind us are not improvising.”
She went cold.
“They know where we turned?”
“They were told where to wait.”
Elena’s mouth opened, then closed.
Her stepmother.
Or the man who bought her.
Or someone else inside the estate.
The thought made her sick.
Matthew’s jaw tightened.
“Who knew you might run?”
“Nobody.”
“Think.”
She almost snapped that she was thinking, but the word caught.
The side door near the kitchen.
The driver sent away.
The old gardener who looked at her too long.
Her stepmother’s hand on her arm.
The whispered phrase: If you run, he will still find you.
Elena shut her eyes.
“My stepmother said that.”
Matthew leaned closer slightly.
“What exactly?”
“If I ran, he would still find me.”
The driver’s eyes flicked to the mirror.
Matthew’s voice dropped.
“Then this was planned.”
Elena’s breath trembled.
“They expected me to run?”
“They expected fear to make you predictable.”
She looked down at her scratched ankles.
“Was I?”
Matthew’s gaze moved to her.
“No.”
“Because I got in your car?”
“Because they are slowing down now.”
Elena looked back.
The pursuing SUV had fallen farther behind, trapped by the convoy.
May you like
For the first time, the men hunting her were unsure.
Read Chapter 8 👉 Because Elena’s desperate choice had broken someone else’s plan, and Matthew understood the pursuers were no longer in control.
