Chapter 32

Ramon POV

The tension radiating from Lake during breakfast had been impossible to ignore. I’d watched him check his phone with the same expression a gazelle might wear when sensing a predator nearby—hypervigilant, ready to bolt at the first sign of real danger.

Whatever message he’d received had shaken him to his core, despite his attempts to mask his reaction behind casual lies about weather forecasts.

I’d learned enough about Lake over the past few weeks to recognize his tells. The way his shoulders hunched slightly when he was preparing to deflect questions. The forced brightness in his voice when he was hiding something significant. The careful neutrality of his expression when he was fighting internal panic.

All of those signs had been present this morning, along with a tremor in his hands that he’d tried to hide by keeping them busy with mundane tasks.

Now, sitting in the back seat of the car as Marcus navigated the morning traffic toward O