Page 157 of Breathless

The final line appears.

Unknown Number:I’ll be in contact again with my demands. Don’t disappoint me, Sage.

Across the room, Ghost’s head lifts. It isn’t dramatic. He doesn’t snap to attention or scan for threats. He simply looks up, the way he always does when something in his environment shifts before he can figure out what it is.

His eyes find me with precision.

Of course they do, they always do.

I lock the screen before his gaze can drop to my hands. Slide the phone into my pocket with movements that feel almost detached from me, rehearsed even though they are happening for the first time.

My heartbeat is loud, and a reminder that the moment has already shifted shape.

This is how it starts.

Not with violence.

But with leverage.

Ghost begins to move toward me. Slow, deliberate, that grounded certainty that has always made him feel like the safest place in any room. And suddenly the image of his bike, alone in the dark, burns into the back of my mind.

I square my shoulders before he reaches me. Adjust my expression into something neutral, something breathable…

Something hewon’tquestion.

Because the truth would make him dangerous.

And dangerous would make him a target.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

His voice is low, calm, but his eyes are searching mine in that reckless way he has.

This is the first moment I understand exactly what protecting him will require.

This is also the first time I lie to him.

“Yeah… everything’s fine.”

THE END