The mont his eyes t mine, my body froze.
I didn’t choose it.
It happened before thought.
In my last life, when the blade slid into my back, pain hadn’t co first. Shock had. Disbelief. The kind that makes your mind go blank while your body understands everything.
Now, standing here, that sa feeling slamd into again.
Those eyes.
Cold. Empty. Sharp.
I knew them.
Even though his face was different, even though everything about him looked ordinary, my heart began to race like it was about to burst through my ribs. Fear rushed through so fast it left dizzy, like being dragged straight to the top of a drop with no ti to brace.
My mind told to look away.
My body scread danger.
Then soone stepped in front of .
The pressure eased instantly.
"Mrs. Riley," a calm voice said, "would you like so water?"
Theo.
He was tall, solid, unmoving. Just his presence was enough to block that man’s line of sight completely. No one could tell that seconds earlier, I’d felt like I was standing at the edge of death.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
I took the warm cup from him and sipped. The heat spread through my fingers, my palms, my arms, slowly waking my limbs again.
In a low voice, barely moving my lips, I said, "He’s here. Ten o’clock. Over six feet tall."
Lewis didn’t look at him. His hand closed gently around mine.
He turned slightly toward Theo. "Keep eyes on him. Don’t let him notice."
"Understood."
I added, "That’s not his real face. He never shows it."
"Understood."
Every ti I had seen him before, at the exhibition, and now he looked different.
But the eyes never changed.
I lowered my gaze and pretended to speak softly with Lewis. My body trembled, small, uncontrollable shakes running through .
"Don’t be afraid," he whispered, so quietly only I could hear.
I hated how my body betrayed . How it reacted on instinct alone, like prey sensing a predator nearby.
Even when I refused to look at him, I could feel his stare burning into my skin.
Lewis stayed steady. I wasn’t.
Part of wanted to rush forward. To tear off that disguise and expose what was underneath. To end it.
But Theo had already moved away, and Lewis subtly shifted his body, guiding toward the exit.
We hadn’t been close to Nolan. Leaving early wouldn’t raise suspicion.
The mont the car door shut behind us, I broke.
I turned and threw myself into Lewis’s arms.
He wrapped up instantly, holding tight, firm enough to anchor .
"I’m here," he murmured. "You’re safe."
I clenched my fists in his clothes, my teeth grinding together.
"I want to destroy him," I whispered hoarsely. "Rip away his disguise. Make him pay."
"That day will co," Lewis said calmly. "But not like this. Not yet. We wait."
"...Okay," I said, even though my chest still felt tight.
The fear hadn’t fully left . I was terrified of losing track of him. Terrified of alerting him too soon.
Lewis thought the sa.
"We’ll leave first," he said. "I don’t want you becoming a target."
He glanced at . "Back to your mom’s place?"
I shook my head imdiately. "No."
That house was crawling with people I didn’t trust.
"The Hale residence?" he asked.
"I don’t want to go anywhere," I said honestly. "I just want Theo to find him."
Lewis lifted his hand and gently patted my head.
"I know," he said. "But I’m taking you sowhere."
I blinked when he pulled into a furniture store.
"...Why are we here?" I asked.
He parked, turned to , and smiled faintly.
"We’ll need to move out eventually," he said. "Don’t you want to help choose things for our place? We’ll be living there together for a long ti."
His words caught off guard.
My mind drifted to the house I once planned with Julian. The designs. The years I spent overseeing every detail.
Even the trees had been chosen by my own hands.
Every path. Every corner. Every detail of that house had once carried my hope. In the end, I never even lived there before everything fell apart. Just thinking about starting over made my chest feel heavy.
Lewis noticed right away.
"Elena," he said gently, " Camilla has probably been watching you for a while now. We need to distract them. Keep your mind busy. Shake things up a little. Do you understand?"
"I do," I said with a nod.
Inside the store, I forced myself to focus. I slowed down, touching fabrics, testing chairs, choosing pieces carefully like this place might really beco ho.
When we passed the children’s section, Lewis stopped.
"Doesn’t this make you curious?" he asked softly. "It wouldn’t hurt to look ahead."
My face ward. "We don’t even have kids yet. Isn’t this too early?"
He looked straight at , steady and certain. "We will soday. Won’t we?"
"...Yeah," I said quietly.
The section was warm and soft, filled with light colors and gentle shapes. It felt peaceful. Too peaceful.
My thoughts drifted to the child I never got to know. I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl.
Before I realized it, I was holding a small toy drum in my hands. I stared at it, wondering if, soday, it might find its way back to .
"Do you like it?" Lewis asked.
I didn’t answer right away.
When I was fighting to keep that baby in the hospital, the only thing that kept alive was the thought of that tiny heartbeat. I had ordered clothes. Toys. Little things filled with hope.
After I was discharged, the packages kept arriving.
Every box felt like a knife to my chest.
In the end, I destroyed everything with my own hands.
Now, even the smallest reminder reopened the deepest wound.
It hurt.
Lewis took my hand, warm and steady. "This ti will be different," he said softly. "I’m ready to build a life with you. With our child. Trust ."
I looked at him for a long mont, then nodded.
"Okay."
He isn’t Julian.
He won’t hurt .
Lewis stayed patient, following in his wheel chair, listening, helping choose. Even the salesperson couldn’t stop smiling at us.
"Ma’am," she said warmly, "your partner is so thoughtful. He’s preparing even before the baby arrives. n like him are rare."
I blushed.
For a mont, it really felt like we were preparing for a future together.
Not like before when I carried fear and hope alone, while Julian’s heart was tangled sowhere else.
We spent the whole day there. Sofas. Bedroom furniture. Plates. Vases. Even small decorations that made a place feel lived in.
I hugged a bread-shaped pillow to my chest when Lewis’s phone rang.
The mont he answered, his expression changed.
My heart tightened.
When he hung up, he paid the Grant calmly and took the pillow from my arms.
Once we were in the car, I couldn’t wait any longer. "What happened?"
"Our plan is working," he said. "He went back to the repair shop."
I leaned forward. "That place is wrong. Ese saw him there too."
My pulse quickened. "Lewis... when my spirit wandered, I saw an underground room. Huge. My body was on a stone platform. You said it might be a mass grave."
I squeezed his hand. "I think it’s under that shop. I need to go there. There has to be sothing left. Sothing connected to my body."
The car was silent for a mont.
Then Lewis’s grip tightened firm, protective.
"We’ll go," he said calmly. "But not blindly. This ti, we do it right."
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