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Jack bursts in, his usual composed demeanor shattered. His hair's a mess, like he's been running his hands through it repeatedly. His eyes dart around the café before landing on me.

"Vanessa." His voice is rough, urgent. He crosses the space between us in three long strides. "I need you to come with me. Now."

My dish rag drops to the table. After a week of silence, after breaking my heart, he just walks in here and?—

"Are you kidding me?" I back away, bumping into a chair. "You ignore me for days and now you expect me to just?—"

"Please." His hand reaches for mine but stops short. There's something in his eyes I've never seen before. Fear? "I know I hurt you. I know I don't deserve to ask anything of you. But this is important."

"Everything okay over here?" Becca appears at my side, arms crossed.

Jack's jaw tightens. "We don't have time for?—"

"Time for what?" I snap. "You made yourself pretty clear last week. What could possibly be so urgent now?"

He runs a hand down his face, and for a second, I swear his skin looks... different. But then he's grabbing my wrist, his touch sending electricity through my body despite everything.

"Please trust me one last time."

The raw desperation in his voice makes my knees weak. This isn't the controlled, confident Jack I know. This is someone else entirely—someone terrified.

"Vanessa, don't you dare go anywhere with him," Becca warns.

My heart pounds like a drum as I stare at Jack's hand. The cafe's pink and red decorations blur at the edges of my vision, the cheerful Valentine's music turning into white noise.

"I..." The words won’t come out. A week ago, I would've followed him anywhere. Now? His touch burns with memories of everything we shared, everything he threw away.

"Let go of her." Becca's voice sounds far away.

Jack's fingers tremble against my skin. His eyes keep darting to the windows, scanning the street outside like he's expecting someone—or something. I've never seen him like this. The confident anthropologist who charmed me with strange questions about human behavior is gone, replaced by someone who looks haunted.

"Please." His voice drops to a whisper. "I know you have no reason to trust me. But I need you to."

My legs feel like jelly. The fluorescent lights above us flicker. Once. Twice. Jack's grip tightens.

I yank my hand back, stumbling into the counter. The coffee grinder rattles behind me, and a heart-shaped cookie display crashes to the floor. The sound makes me jump.

"Vanessa?" Becca touches my shoulder. "Should I call security?"

Security. Right. That would be the sensible thing to do. But nothing about this feels sensible. The way Jack's looking at me—desperate, pleading, scared—it's real. Too real.

"Why?" My voice comes out smaller than I intended.

"I can't—" He runs his hands through his hair again, making it stand up at odd angles. "Not here. There's too much to explain, and we don't have time."

The bell above the door chimes. Jack's head snaps toward the sound so fast I hear his neck crack. His whole body tenses like a wire about to snap.

I press myself against the counter, my heart trying to escape through my throat. What happened to my nice, normal Valentine's Day of serving coffee and wallowing in self-pity? What happened to the Jack I thought I knew?

CHAPTER18

JACK

Igrip Vanessa's hand, pulling her through the back door of The Love Roast into the alley. My heart pounds against my ribs. Her skin is warm against mine, and I fight the urge to shift back to my natural state. To show her everything.

"Jack, what's going on? You're scaring me." Her voice trembles. The same voice that's haunted my dreams for weeks.

The brick wall provides cover, but I scan the rooftops anyway. They could be watching. Could already be here. I've broken protocol completely, but I can't let them take her.