Page 95 of Can't Stop Watching

"For what?"

"For listening. For not running away when you should." I brush my thumb across her cheek, wiping away a tear that's still there. "For letting me drag all that ugliness into your bright world."

Lila leans into my touch, turning to kiss my palm. Something cracks open in my chest—not the violent, sudden breach of a kicked-in door, but the slow, deliberate opening of a vault long sealed.

"You know what's fucked up? I actually feel... lighter." I laugh, the sound hollow against the campus buzz around us. "Twenty-one years carrying that shit around, and all it took was ten minutes with you to make it hurt less."

She smiles that smile again, the one that makes the world slow down. "That's how it works, Dane. Darkness can't survive in light."

"Very poetic. You sure you're not an English major?"

"Just a girl who knows something about surviving monsters. And besides… you have helped me too."

We sit in silence for a moment, both understanding that whatever this is between us—this fragile, terrifying connection—it's changing us both. For better or worse.

"I've lived my whole life in shadows," I say quietly. "You're the first light that didn't blind me."

I stand, adjusting my jacket over my holster. "I should get going. I need Milo. This phone isn't going to unlock itself."

My fingers brush against Sarah's cracked iPhone in my pocket. Another young woman who trusted the wrong man. Another failure if I don't move fast enough.

Then it hits me. I turn back to Lila, who's gathering her books.

"Good luck in your interview," I say. "For Veritas. I know you'll do great."

Her face transforms—surprise, then that genuine smile that makes my chest tighten like I've been gut-shot. Most people would assume I'd forgotten about her interview in the middle of all this darkness, but she's become the focal point my mind circles back to, no matter how deep in the shadows I wade.

"You remembered," she says softly.

"Hard to forget anything about you." The honesty in my voice surprises even me.

She has no fucking clue that she's all I think about. Between surveillance photos and waiting for Langford to slip up, her face appears in my mind like salvation. Green eyes, freckles, that cautious smile when she's deciding whether to trust me.

Walking away from her feels like leaving shelter during a firefight—every step exposing more vulnerability. The campus buzzes with normal people living normal lives, reminding me how out of place I am here. In daylight. With her.

I stop at the edge of the quad, watching students sprawl on the grass, laughing in the autumn sun, oblivious to the predators walking among them. Something crystallizes in my mind—a decision I didn't know I was making until it's already made.

This is it. Claire Langford will be my last client.

After I find Sarah, I'm done. No more peering into the abyss of other people's secrets. No more cataloging human depravity to assuage my guilt.

It's time to focus on whatever this is with Lila. See if a man forged in darkness can learn to live in light without burning to ash.

Fuck, that's terrifying—scarier than any firefight I survived. At least there, I knew the rules: kill or be killed. With Lila, I'm navigating blind, equipped with emotional weapons I've never used.

But for the first time in my life, the fear seems worth it.

30

LILA

Iwatch Dane walk away, his broad shoulders cutting through crowds of students who instinctively move aside without realizing why. The confession he just laid at my feet weighs more than any textbook I've ever carried.

Gianna. An eleven-year-old girl who died because adults failed her. Just like me, except much worse. And she didn't survive.

My phone feels heavy in my hand as I pull it out. My fingers hover over the screen, not knowing what to even say. How do you process a man like Dane Wolfe dropping his armor at a campus coffee bench on a random Friday?

I text Tessa.