Chapter 415
Chapter 415:
“I swear to you,” he said, his voice quieter now. “This time, I will protect your name p>
Kristine gave him a small, sad smile and said nothing more.
The silence that followed was worse than an argument. Colton felt the weight of it pressing against him.
“Come on,” he said, his tone gentling slightly. “Get in the car p>
Kristine didn’t resist. She walked with him to the open door and began to step inside.
“Ms. Green p>
She paused at Tripp’s voice behind her, glanced back once, offered him a small smile that said everything and nothing — and then stepped in and sat down, turning her face to the window.
J𝘰𝗶𝘯 𝘵𝗁o𝘶sa𝗻𝗱ѕ 𝗼𝗳 𝖿𝗮𝘯ѕ on 𝘨а𝘭ո𝗼𝗏el𝘀.со𝗺
Colton climbed in after her, visibly caught off guard by her composure. The guard outside pulled the door shut with a dull, final thud.
The interior of the car was dark and very still.
Colton glanced over at her. Though they were separated by barely a foot, the distance between them felt immeasurable. He reached out, almost against his own will, and took her hand.
She didn’t pull away. She didn’t look at him either. She kept her gaze fixed on the window, her expression blank and far away — like something beautiful that had been emptied out.
The sight of her like that unsettled him more than he wanted to admit. He tightened his grip, as though holding on firmly enough might keep her from drifting somewhere he couldn’t follow.
After a few minutes of driving, the driver spoke carefully. “Mr. Yates — where are we headed p>
“The airport,” Colton said.
The silence returned, denser than before. Even the occasional sounds from outside couldn’t cut through it.
Then Devin’s voice came low through his earpiece. “I found Asher p>
The name landed like a match struck in a dark room. Colton’s eye twitched.
He glanced at Kristine. She hadn’t moved — still facing the window, still seemingly absent. But something about the angle of her head had shifted, almost imperceptibly.
She was listening.
Colton’s hand slowly closed into a fist in the dark.
“Where is he? What’s he doing?” he asked into the phone.
Back at the estate, Devin stood watching as his men carried Asher out of the tunnel entrance. He turned the phone over in his hand, trying to decide how much to say.
Asher, for his part, was remarkably composed for a man who had just been dragged out of a hidden underground passage. He had known from the moment he was caught that Devin wouldn’t move against him directly.
Devin knew it too. And he knew that if Colton were standing here instead of him, this would already have turned into something far uglier.
He didn’t want these two men destroying each other over a woman.
He exhaled slowly. “Let’s talk when I see you,” he said into the phone, and ended the call.
He turned to Asher with the weary expression of a man who had managed too many difficult situations in a single evening. “Asher. What am I supposed to do with you p>