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Sterling.

The sight of him was like being carved open. A sob ripped loose as my foot punched harder on the gas, the engine whining in protest while the tires slipped and fought for traction. I knew I couldn’t outrun him. I knew that with the same certainty I knew my own name. His truck was built for this weather and this terrain. Meanwhile, my Prius was fighting for her life with a courage usually reserved for doomed side characters.

But knowing didn’t stop me from trying.

Tears poured down my face, and I had to keep wiping at my eyes because I couldn’t see past them. I stopped looking in the rearview mirror, because it felt pointless, but I could still feel him behind me. No matter how hard I pushed my car…I wouldn’t gain any ground on him.

“Please,” I sobbed, the word dissolving as rain continued to hammer the windshield, and the constant thunder and lightning gave me miniature heart attacks with every strike.

“Come on, girl,” I sobbed, the words tumbling out unhinged sounding even to my own ears. “You’ve got this. You’re fine. We’re fine.”

The car bucked, and I screamed, my fingers tightening as the wheel wrenched against my hands. The engine choked, and the frame rattled, the metal grinding like something was tearing itself apart from the inside.

“No,” I gasped, panicked, as the gas pedal went slack beneath my foot. “No, no—please⁠—”

The engine gave one final, broken sound and died, the sudden silence louder than any thunder. The car coasted helplessly as rain drummed against the hood. The dashboard lights blinked out, and the world seemed to close in around me.

I slammed the brakes. The car rolled to a stop on the shoulder, and my body folded forward as sobs tore through me. I pressed my forehead to the steering wheel, shaking so hard I could barely breathe.

Behind me, the black truck slowed and then parked behind my car.

Seconds dragged by, and they were thick and awful. He stayed in his truck with the engine idling, and for one wild, irrational moment, I had the urge to fling the door open and run. Just take off down the road and see what happened.

I almost did.

Then the driver’s door of the truck opened.

I watched him in the side mirror, a dark shape stepping out into the downpour like the storm had summoned him. Rain plastered his shirt to his chest and shoulders. The fabric clung to his hard muscle as he moved with that predatory calm that had always undone me. His hair was soaked, the curls dark and wild against his forehead, and water tracked down the sharp lines of his face in rivulets as he moved.

He stalked toward me through the rain, boots splashing in shallow puddles, jaw set, his eyes dark and locked on my car.

I yanked my gaze from the mirror to the windshield, staring straight ahead like my life depended on it. I would just ignore him. It wasn’t like he would break the glass to grab me.

He stopped beside my car, his presence impossible to miss. Rain streaked down the window between us as he knocked hard against the glass. “Sienna,” he growled.

I stayed perfectly still, afraid that if I moved or spoke or even breathed too loud, that would be it…the end. As long as I sat there, staring straight ahead, I could pretend we were still something regardless of the fact that I’d been running away. I could pretend that I didn’t have to tell him I was a monster…

If I didn’t open the door, if I didn’t meet his eyes, I could keep that illusion alive for one more heartbeat.

The knock came again, harder, and I kept my eyes fixed on the blurred road ahead as my hands clenched uselessly in my lap.

And then there was a click.

My head snapped toward the door just as it unlocked with a key I had never given him.

“What—” My breath hitched in confusion. But before I could process it, the door was opening and his arm was coming toward me, rainwater dripping from his sleeve as his hand went straight to my seat belt. It released with another sharp click that reverberated in my ears.

“What are you doing?” I gasped.

As soon as the seat belt was off me, Sterling hauled me out of the car and into the storm. My shoes briefly slipped on the wet asphalt before I crashed straight into his chest.

For one suspended second, he just held me.

His arms locked around me like he was afraid I might vanish if he loosened his grip, rain soaking us both as my face pressed into his chest. I could feel his heart pounding hard and fast beneath my cheek, solid and real and devastatingly familiar.

And then I shattered.

A sob tore out of me so violently it hurt as my hands came up between us and I started hitting his chest with weak, frantic fists, striking muscle that didn’t budge.