The car ride was silent, the hum of the engine the only sound between them. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It was the kind of silence that felt like something unspoken was passing between them—something deep, something that made Evelyn's heart beat just a little faster.

She glanced out of the window, watching the world blur past as they left the city behind. The air grew fresher, cleaner, and the landscape became a blur of green fields and open skies. Hayden's hand rested casually on the gearshift, his profile dark and sharp, his expression unreadable. Yet she knew him well enough by now to read the tension in the way he gripped the wheel.