Her father’s uninjured man didn’t say a word; he just kept his gun trained.
“Where. Is. She?”
He didn’t threat. Didn’t bluster like she’d seen a lot of men do.
He didn’t need to though. The three words were wrapped in so much death it was hard to miss.
Evidently, her father’s man, the one whimpering on the ground, thought so too. “We just got here. The blast took out both cars. Let us go, please. We have a family.”
Morana watched as he suddenly stilled, his eyes going, for the first time, to the burned remains of her car.
For a moment, nothing moved – not the wind, not the leaves, not the men.
“Where the fuck is she?”
Thunder split the sky; winds became chaotic, making his tie and open jacket flap against his hard chest, his gun arm pointing straight at the other man, the imminent death in his voice making her flinch.
But his eyes remained on her car.
Something tightened in her chest.
“We don’t know. We were told to come check on our guys.”
He turned to the men, lowering his gun, no movement on his face.
“Leave. Now. You turn around and come back, you die.”
The man who was standing nodded, putting his gun away as he helped the injured guy up and towards their own car. Within minutes, they were in the vehicle and driving away, the bright taillights disappearing, leaving everything back in the darkness.
He’d let them go.
Morana moved slightly out beside the tree, unable to understand him, the beating of her heart vicious, the rush of blood hot through her veins.
Dust slowly settled.
She watched him take a few steps towards the pile of charred metal that had been her beloved car, and come to a stop.
The gun dangled loosely in his hand at his side.
He stood before the bombed remains of her car, his back to her, the jacket of his suit clinging to his muscles as they tightened, before flapping in the onslaught of the wind.
Morana stood quietly against the tree in plain sight and watched him from behind, wanting to see his reaction, needing to see his reaction. Because if she was going to gamble with this man, she needed to know her cards.
She hadn’t spoken to him since that last text she’d sent him. Her phone had been switched off, and she’d made Amara promise to give her some time alone to figure things out. She’d been missing for hours, and she needed to see his reaction, not in front of those men, but his reaction alone. Because even though she hadn’t figured anything out, if he gave her even a sliver of hope, she knew she wasn’t goi
ng to run away. For once in her life, she wanted to stay.
His back moved as he breathed, his hands clenched beside him as he kept looking at her dead car. The darkness clung to his frame, only the flash of lightning illuminating him brightly for split seconds before leaving him standing alone in the dark again in the graveyard.
Thunder roared in agony.
The winds lamented.
Morana swallowed the pain rising in her chest but didn’t make a move, knowing instinctively that even a tiny motion would make him aware of her.
So, she just kept watching him, waiting for him to do something.
He did.