Mine

Chapter 26

The silence in the car was suffocating. The only sounds were the steady hum of the engine and the rhythmic tap of the stranger's fingers against the steering wheel.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I swallowed hard, my pulse still racing from the escape. I should have been relieved—Xavier was behind me, lost in the wreckage of his own reckless pursuit. But something was off.

The man driving me to "safety" hadn't given me a straight answer to a single question. And now, I was locked inside a car with him, speeding down an unfamiliar road in the middle of the night.

I should be terrified.

And yet, as my gaze flickered to him—the sharp line of his jaw, the mess of dark hair that looked like he had just run his fingers through it, the way his lips curved ever so slightly in amusement as if he could feel my uncertainty—I felt something else entirely.

A different kind of danger.

Not the kind that made me want to run.

The kind that made me want to lean in.

I shook the thought away. Focus.

"Where are we going?" I asked, forcing my voice to stay steady.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "You ask a lot of questions."

I clenched my fists in my lap. "Considering I don't even know your name, I think that's fair."

He exhaled slowly, his fingers tightening around the wheel. Then, finally, he glanced at me—really looked at me this time. His eyes were sharp, a deep shade of blue that made my breath hitch.

"Lucas."

His voice wrapped around the name like silk.

I blinked. "Lucas what?"

"Just Lucas."

Of course.

I turned back toward the window, watching the darkened trees blur past. I needed to think. Needed to figure out what the hell I had just gotten myself into.

Because this—being here, in this car, with him—felt like a mistake.

And yet... I wasn't asking him to stop.

I wasn't begging to be let out.

I was still here.

The realization made my skin prickle.

Lucas must have noticed, because his smirk returned. "Relax, sweetheart. If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have wasted time saving you."

His voice was deep, laced with amusement. Like he was enjoying this—enjoying me squirming under his gaze.

I turned to face him, my own irritation rising. "I don't even know if you actually saved me. For all I know, you're just as bad as Xavier."

He laughed, a low, rich sound that sent a shiver down my spine.

"Oh, I'm worse."

I stiffened. "What?"

He didn't take his eyes off the road, but I could see the way his lips curled slightly, the way he was toying with me.

I was used to predators like Xavier. Men who took what they wanted with brute force, with violence.

Lucas was something else entirely.

Something more dangerous.

Because he didn't need force.

He knew I'd already fallen into his trap willingly.