Erica’s POV
The tension from the turn around got me scared. Scared was an understatement. I kept on imagining things. What if they actually did something bad to her? My mind was a carousel of the worst possible images — Alexis limp, Alexis crying, Alexis gone — each more awful than the last. My breathing refused to steady. It was happening so fast.
Too fast to comprehend.
The figure looked at us, and Tyler looked at him with uncanny familiarity — the kind of recognition you wish you could unsee.
“Do you know him?”
I managed to say it, breaking the silence and tension between them. Tyler didn’t say anything, just gave one slow nod. That single movement felt heavy, loaded with history I didn’t know.
The figure’s gaze slid to me for only a second, then back to Tyler. That glance alone
