Page 104 of The Hunter

Low fuel.

“Shit,” I muttered.

I hadn’t thought to check the fuel gauge when I escaped. Rookie mistake. I could only hope I’d find a gas station in the next fifty miles or all of this would have been for nothing.

I peered down the long expanse of road, as if a town might miraculously rise from the trees. But there was nothing. Just mile after mile of dense pine, shadowed hills, and silence so heavy it felt like the world had ended.

This was where Henry grew up? In this isolation? No wonder he was so…broken.

The thought came unbidden, and I shoved it down. I refused to feel sorry for him. Not after what he did. I didn’t care what demons he’d inherited from his father. He still made a deal with the fucking Bratva.

There was no coming back from that.

My shoulders ached by the time I finally spotted a flickering sign in the distance — an old gas station tucked beneath towering pine trees. A faded banner flapped beneath the overhang, barely legible through the grime.

But the lights were on.

Relief flooded me so fast I almost forgot to check my surroundings first.

Almost.

I cut the engine and scanned the lot. Not a single car. Just my own headlights reflecting off the glass door and an old pickup truck rusting near the side of the building.

I stepped into the night, the frigid air hitting me like a wall. I tugged Henry’s coat tighter and hurried across the lot. The bell above the door chimed when I entered.

It smelled like tobacco and stale coffee. Rows of snack food lined narrow shelves, and behind the counter stood a man who looked like he’d been carved from the very mountain I’d just escaped — gray beard, sun-worn skin, and an oversized flannel shirt with the cuffs rolled up.

“You lost?” he asked with a chuckle.

“What makes you say that?” I asked nervously.

“Ain’t too many folks come this way unless they’re hunting or hiding. And you don’t look like a hunter.”

I forced a polite smile. “Just passing through.”

He nodded thoughtfully as his eyes crawled over my face. “You look familiar.”

I swallowed hard, my heart racing in my chest.

I could tell him the truth. That my name was Ariana Kane. That I was abducted several days ago and held prisoner in some cabin up in the mountains. That the man who took me was hired by the Bratva.

But considering this was the first gas station I’d come across, I worried he might know Henry. I didn’t want to do anything that might draw attention to myself. Not until I was far enough away.

So instead, I reached for a pack of crackers on one of the shelves. “I get that a lot.”

He didn’t argue, but he watched me as I grabbed a bottle of water, a candy bar, then walked to the counter and dug into the roll of cash I’d taken.

“I’d also like forty worth of gas.”

The way his eyes lingered on the cash made my skin crawl.

He rang me up without a word, but I made a mental note to move the rest of the money to a safer spot.

“You be careful out there,” he said as I turned to leave. “World’s not as safe as it used to be.”

Didn’t I know it?

Outside, the air felt colder. Sharper. The kind that slipped beneath my skin and reminded me I was exposed. Vulnerable.