As they prepared to move, the weight of the situation settled over them. Caleb stayed by the window, watching the figures outside as they closed in. Evelyn moved to the back of the cabin, her movements quiet and deliberate.
Carter leaned against the table, his pistol resting loosely in his hand. His gaze drifted to Evelyn, his expression unreadable.
“You know,” Carter said suddenly, his voice low, “this isn’t the first time we’ve been cornered like this.”
Evelyn stiffened slightly but didn’t look at him. “I remember.”
Caleb frowned, glancing between them. “What’s he talking about?”
Evelyn didn’t answer, her focus locked on the map she was folding into her pack.
“I’m talking about the last time Evelyn and I worked together,” Carter said, his tone casual but with an edge beneath it. “Back when she still had the Keeper badge to go with that sharp little knife of hers.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “You were Keepers together?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“No,” Evelyn said quickly, her tone sharp. “He was never one of us.”
“True,” Carter said, smirking faintly. “But we had… overlapping interests.”
FLASHBACK
The room seemed to fade as Carter leaned back, his gaze distant. “A few years ago, Evelyn and I crossed paths while chasing the same lead. A rogue Keeper had gone AWOL with a fragment of a map—something that pointed to one of the keys.”
Evelyn finally turned to face him, her green eyes sharp. “You were after the bounty. That’s all it was to you.”
“And you were after redemption,” Carter shot back, his smirk fading. “But let me guess—it didn’t work out the way you hoped.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t respond.
Caleb’s gaze darted between them. “What happened?”
Carter shrugged. “Things got messy. The rogue Keeper wasn’t exactly cooperative, and Evelyn’s ‘friends’ showed up to clean house. I barely made it out alive.”
“And the map?” Caleb asked.
“Destroyed,” Evelyn said curtly. “The Keeper would rather die than let it fall into the wrong hands.”
Carter chuckled darkly. “Or the right ones.”
Caleb studied Evelyn carefully, his mind racing. “So, what’s the deal with you two? You just keep crossing paths like this?”
“Unfortunately,” Evelyn said, her tone cold.
“Fate has a sense of humor,” Carter added, his smirk returning.
Caleb frowned, but he didn’t press further. He could see the tension between them, the way Evelyn’s shoulders tensed at Carter’s every word. There was more to their history than either of them was willing to say, but now wasn’t the time to dig into it.