Page 73 of Only the Hunter

“That’s all he was told to do. My guess is someone wants to know who you’re with.”

“What was he supposed to do with the photos?” If there’s a name, an email⁠—

“Upload to a burner account. Dead drop for whoever’s paying. Not traceable.”

“Did you get anything?”

“His phone. But he doesn’t know anything. I doubt anything’s on it.”

We don’t linger.

Back in the hotel room, the door barely clicks shut before the adrenaline crashes.

My hands tremble uncontrollably. I press them together, willing them still, but the tremor won’t stop.

Gabe moves past me, checking the locks, the windows, the sight lines—the same routine he does every time we enter a room. Methodical and unflustered.

He’s been doing this the whole trip. Watching exits. Reading crowds. Keeping me safe without ever making me feel small.

And I realize, suddenly and with uncomfortable clarity, that I’ve been so focused on finding Lina I haven’t let myself see him. Not the way he sees me.

Not really.

Not the way I used to.

But that’s not what’s important here. I squeeze my eyes closed and ball my ungloved hands, pulling myself together.

“They’re watching.” That’s the unsettling truth. Whoever did this to Lina has been notified that we found her, and they’re acting.

“Yes,” Gabe says as he exits the bedroom where he closed the drapes.

“Because of Lina.”

“Because you’re here,” he corrects. “Because you won’t stop.”

He means for the words to bear a punch.

I laugh once—short, bitter. “Of course I won’t.”

Gabe doesn’t move closer. Doesn’t touch me.

But his eyes hold mine, the blue so steady, so serious, that it feels dark, and I feel the weight of everything he’s not saying.

“You should go home,” I say quietly. “Before this gets worse.”

“Not a chance.”

“Gabe—”

“Evie.” He says my name like a correction. “I’m not leaving.”

I feel the distance crack. Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just a small fracture in the careful distance I’ve kept between us since DC. Since the ravine. Since the moment I realized he wasn’t here because of my brother or my father or a payment.

He’s here because of me.

And it’s personal.

And I don’t know what to do with that.