Page 78 of Only the Hunter

She glances at me, irritated. “I’m in the middle⁠—”

“Now.”

The woman across from us goes pale. She sees it too.

“You shouldn’t have sent those photos,” she whispers, shoving the folder across the table toward Evie. “They know you’re here. They know what you’re after.”

Evie’s hand lands on the folder.

I’m already standing.

“We’re leaving,” I say.

Evie looks up at me, anger flashing. “Gabe⁠—”

“Now.”

The man at the counter shifts. His hand moves to his coat pocket.

Not casual.

Tactical.

I step around the table, putting myself between Evie and the room. “Get up. Walk to the door. Don’t look back.”

Evie hesitates.

The woman bolts.

Out the side door into the alley, folder forgotten on the table.

The man near the exit moves toward us the instant she’s gone—like her leaving was the cue he’d been waiting for.

I don’t wait to see what’s in his pocket.

Evie hesitates—phone already rising, thumb finding the camera icon, some instinct insisting she needs proof before she needs safety.

“Evie—”

My hand closes around her wrist, phone still unlit in her palm. “Now.”

She doesn’t get the shot.

“Gabe, what⁠—”

“Move.”

I guide her toward the door, body angled to shield her. I’m not gentle. I do not ask permission.

The man steps in front of us, hand already coming out of his pocket⁠—

I don’t let him finish.

I drive my shoulder into his sternum, hard enough to knock him sideways into the doorframe, and shove Evie through the opening.

“Run.”

She does.