Chapter 38

Adrian’s hand remained still beneath hers.

Not because he didn’t want to move.

Because he seemed afraid to.

Rain slid quietly down the apartment windows behind him while Manhattan glowed pale silver through storm clouds beginning to thin before dawn. The folder containing Victor’s files still sat open between them on the table, pages spilling out like exposed nerves neither of them could hide from anymore.

For several long seconds, neither spoke.

Evelyn became painfully aware of everything at once —

the warmth of his skin beneath her fingers,

the exhaustion in his face,

the unbearable intimacy of choosing contact after weeks of fear and betrayal.

She hated how natural it felt.

Adrian looked down briefly at their hands.

“You shouldn’t do that unless you mean it.”

The quietness of his voice hollowed her chest.

Evelyn almost pulled away immediately.

Instead she tightened her fingers slightly around his.

Not romance.

Recognition.

Because somewhere inside the ruined architecture of her memory, touching Adrian still felt like returning to something she survived through once already.

“I don’t know what I mean anymore,” she admitted softly.

The honesty settled between them.

Outside, rain moved steadily across the glass.

Adrian finally looked up at her again.

And for the first time since Black Hollow, neither of them seemed to be pretending strength.

That terrified her more than anger ever had.

Then his phone vibrated sharply against the kitchen counter.

The sound shattered the fragile stillness instantly.

Adrian glanced toward the screen.

His expression changed immediately.

Evelyn felt it before he even spoke.

“What?”

Adrian released her hand carefully and grabbed the phone.

“Mercer.”

He answered immediately.

“What happened?”

Silence stretched while Mercer spoke on the other end.

Evelyn watched Adrian’s posture tighten in stages.

Alertness replacing exhaustion.

Fear replacing calm.

Then Adrian said quietly:

“When?”

Another silence.

The apartment suddenly felt cold again.

Finally Adrian lowered the phone slowly.

Evelyn stood instinctively.

“What happened?”

Rain tapped harder against the windows now.

Adrian looked at her.

“Mercer searched Victor’s remaining archive storage.”

Cold spread slowly through her chest.

“And?”

“He found another facility.”

The room seemed to narrow instantly.

“Another retreat?”

“No.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened visibly.

“A private hospital wing.”

Victor again.

Always Victor.

The realization settled like poison.

“Where?”

Adrian crossed toward the folder on the table and flipped rapidly through several pages before stopping at a financial record buried near the back.

Evelyn stepped beside him.

The document looked old.

Partially water damaged.

Stamped CONFIDENTIAL across the top.

Then she saw the name attached to the funding transfers.

Vale Medical Foundation.

Her pulse stopped.

“No.”

Adrian looked grim now.

“It was funded through Lena’s family.”

The sentence detonated through her chest.

Rain hammered suddenly against the windows again while Evelyn stared at the document in disbelief.

“The Vales financed Black Hollow?”

“Not directly,” Adrian said carefully. “This wing opened years after the retreat officially closed.”

“But Victor ran it.”

“Yes.”

The implications unfolded instantly.

Lena’s family money.

Victor’s experiments continuing.

Hidden treatment facilities surviving long after Black Hollow disappeared.

Evelyn backed slowly away from the table.

“She knew.”

Adrian didn’t answer.

Because of course Lena knew.

That was why she kept digging.

Why she vanished.

Why somebody wanted her silent.

The realization twisted painfully through Evelyn’s chest.

“She spent years trying to expose her own family.”

Another vibration cut sharply through the apartment.

This time Evelyn’s phone.

Unknown number.

Both of them froze.

The room fell silent except for rain.

Then another notification appeared.

Text message.

Evelyn’s hands shook slightly as she opened it.

A photograph loaded first.

Dark hallway.

Hospital lighting.

Someone restrained to a bed just beyond the frame.

Then another image.

Simon.

Alive.

Bruised.

Armed.

Eyes wild with exhaustion.

The timestamp showed it had been taken less than an hour ago.

Beneath the photo sat a single message:

Come alone, Eve.

Cold flooded instantly through her body.

Adrian stepped closer beside her.

Another text arrived immediately after.

Coordinates.

Same mountain region as Black Hollow.

Then:

I have Lena.

The apartment seemed to tilt sideways.

Evelyn stopped breathing for one terrible second.

Adrian took the phone from her carefully.

His expression hardened immediately reading the images.

“This is wrong.”

“What if it isn’t?”

“He’s unstable.”

“He’s desperate.”

“There’s a difference.”

Evelyn looked back toward the photographs.

Simon looked terrified.

Not theatrical.

Not manipulative.

Cornered.

Rain streaked silver down the windows behind them while thunder rolled faintly over the city.

“What if he really found her?” she whispered.

Adrian’s gaze remained fixed on the screen.

“Or someone wants us separated.”

The sentence landed heavily.

Because it was possible.

Maybe probable.

Still—

Hope moved faster than logic inside her now.

Lena alive.

Close.

Waiting somewhere inside another hidden facility connected to Victor’s work.

Evelyn grabbed her coat immediately.

Adrian caught her wrist before she reached the door.

Not hard.

Just enough to stop momentum.

“Don’t do this alone.”

“He specifically said—”

“I don’t care what Simon said.”

The sharpness in Adrian’s voice startled both of them.

Fear.

Real fear again.

Not control.

Evelyn looked down at his hand around her wrist.

Then back up at him.

“You think he’s dangerous.”

“I think everyone around Victor eventually became dangerous.”

The sentence sat heavily between them.

Not accusation.

Experience.

Evelyn looked toward the rain-dark skyline beyond the windows.

Then back at Simon’s bruised face frozen on her phone screen.

Victim or villain.

Maybe both.

Maybe none of them escaped becoming complicated after Black Hollow.

Another text appeared suddenly.

This one shorter.

More urgent.

Hurry before they move her again.