The city lights disappeared behind us like stars swallowed by a black hole.
I sat in the back seat of Greyson's car, my hands folded over my stomach, watching his reflection in the rearview mirror. The highway stretched ahead, empty and dark. We'd left Manhattan twenty minutes ago. The buildings had given way to industrial sprawl, then to nothing.
"Greyson," I said quietly.
He didn't answer. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
"Greyson, please look at me."
Nothing.
I tried again, keeping my voice steady. "I love this baby. Our baby. I would never hurt anyone. You know me. Seven years, Greyson. Seven years."
His jaw tightened. His eyes stayed on the road.
"Poppy is lying," I continued. "I don't know what she told you, but she's lying. Please. Just look at me. Look at me and tell me you believe her over everything we've been."
The silence stretched between us like a wire pulled too tight.
A streetlight passed overhead, throwing his face into sharp relief for just a moment. I saw his profile—the line of his jaw, the set of his mouth. I'd kissed that mouth a thousand times. I'd woken up next to that face for seven years.
I didn't recognize it anymore.
"You're not listening," I whispered.
"I'm listening," he said flatly. "You're just not saying anything that matters."
The words landed like a slap. I pressed my hand harder against my stomach, feeling the fragile spark inside me—the only thing left that mattered.
I watched his reflection in the mirror. He never once looked back at me.
In that moment, I understood. I wasn't a person to him anymore. I was a problem. A transaction. A piece he could move across the board to save the piece he actually wanted.
Something inside me went very, very still.
I stopped talking. I stopped trying. I just sat there in the dark, watching the highway roll past, feeling the cold settle into my bones.
---
The warehouse appeared like a wound in the landscape—rusted metal, broken windows, surrounded by cracked asphalt and chain-link fence. Greyson pulled through an open gate and stopped in the middle of the empty lot.
His phone buzzed. He answered immediately.
"I'm here," he said.
"East entrance," a man's voice replied. "Come alone. Bring the wife."
Greyson ended the call and got out. He opened my door without looking at me.
"Get out."
I stepped onto the asphalt, my heels clicking softly against the broken pavement. The air smelled like rust and old rain. The warehouse loomed ahead, dark except for a single light bleeding through a doorway on the eastern side.
I pressed my hands against my stomach again. The gesture had become a reflex.
Greyson walked ahead of me. I followed, keeping a few steps behind, my eyes scanning the darkness. There were no other cars. No sounds except the wind rattling through broken metal.
Something was wrong. Everything was wrong.
Greyson stopped ten feet from the entrance. He turned back to look at me—not at my face, but past me, checking the lot behind us.
"Stay close," he said.
I almost laughed. Stay close. As though he was protecting me. As though I was anything more than cargo.
I said nothing.
He pulled out his phone and checked the time. His hand was shaking.
I looked at him—really looked at him—and saw something I'd never seen before. Fear. Not for me. Not for the baby. For her.
The stillness inside me deepened.
"Greyson," I said quietly. "When this is over, whatever happens—we're done. You understand that, right? We're done."
He didn't answer. He was staring at the warehouse door.
I pulled my phone from my pocket. My hands were steady. I turned slightly away from him and dialed Serena's number. It rang once, then went to voicemail.
I kept my voice low.
"Serena. Queens industrial district, off the Van Wyck. I don't know what's about to happen. Tell my mother—"
Greyson turned around.
I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket.
"Who were you calling?" he demanded.
"No one," I said.
He stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head and turned back toward the warehouse.
The door opened.
A man stepped out—tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a black jacket and a calm expression that didn't match the situation. He looked at Greyson, then at me.
"Mr. Hunter," he said. "Right on time."
Greyson stepped forward. "Where is she?"
The man gestured toward the darkness behind him. "Inside. Safe. For now."
"I brought Hadley," Greyson said. "Like you asked. Now let Poppy go."
The man's eyes flicked to me. He studied my face for a moment, then looked back at Greyson.
"You really believe your wife hired us, don't you?"
Greyson's jaw tightened. "I know she did."
The man almost smiled. "Interesting."
He stepped aside and gestured toward the open door.
"Come inside, Mr. Hunter. Let's finish this."
Greyson grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.
I didn't resist. I just walked, one foot in front of the other, into the dark.
