Page 194 of Teacher's Pet

Run.

Chapter 36

Noah

"What happens if we don’t get to her in time?" The question scrapes against my throat like broken glass, my grip tightening around my phone as I watch her location inch painfully closer. Too close. Too still.

Roman exhales sharply, his fingers clenching the steering wheel like a lifeline. His knuckles are white, his expression carved from stone.

"You can’t think like that. Not in this line of work," he mutters, voice low, controlled, too controlled.

"But Jake doesn’t play games," I snap, my pulse hammering against my ribs. "If he wants to hurt Ana, he will. And now we’re running on borrowed time-"

"If you go into this thinking she’s dead, you won’t think clearly," Roman cuts in, his tone edged with warning. "Jake is toying with you, getting into your head."

If only he knew how much it’s working.

Roman drives as fast as he dares, navigating the slick roads with razor-sharp focus. The tires hiss against patches of ice, but he doesn’t falter, his hands locked on the wheel, his gaze burning into the dark highway ahead.

"How far?" he growls, flipping on the comms to update his men.

"Only a mile or so," I whisper, swallowing hard. "She’s not moving."

I don’t want to think about why.

Roman curses under his breath, his jaw flexing as he presses harder on the gas.

"My men are close behind us," he says, his voice clipped, barely containing his fury. "Some are still combing the woods for Walker and Cole. Eden’s keeping an eye on Ana’s parents and friends, but she said she’s having trouble keeping them all at the school."

I drag a hand through my hair, the weight of this moment pressing down on me like a vice.

"Her dad wanted to follow," Roman adds.

I shake my head, my chest constricting.

"I can’t have him here," I grit out. My stomach twists at the thought of what we might find. "What the hell would happen if we find her and she’s-"

I can’t say it. The word lodges in my throat, suffocating me.

My voice drops to a raw whisper.

"God, it’s my fucking fault she got involved with my family. My fault my past came crashing into her life-"

"Like it or not," Roman says evenly, "your family and Ana were bound to collide. Levi’s death would’ve brought her back to the Antonovs one way or another. Be thankful she met you first and not Jake."

His words hit like a gut punch, but there’s no time to dwell on them. I grip my phone tighter, my entire body trembling with restrained rage.

"How can you be so fucking calm?" I snap, turning on him. "The woman I love might be dead, and you can barely crack an emotion-"

Roman’s gaze flicks toward me, cold and lethal.

"Because emotions get you killed," he says, his voice quiet but firm. "If it were Eden, hell, I’d be just as angry as you. I’d already have every resource at my disposal hunting these fuckers down. But one of us needs to keep our head."

His grip tightens on the wheel.

"Trust me when I say I know how it feels to put someone you love in a dangerous situation. But you losing it now?" His jaw clenches. "That won’t save her."

The silence that follows is deafening.

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