Chapter 83

Lake and Ollie have a huge codependency on each other.

Ramon POV

Rafael had just turned onto my mother’s street when everything went to hell.

One second we were driving at a reasonable speed, the next Rafael was slamming on the brakes so hard I was thrown forward against my seatbelt. The SUV screeched to a stop, the smell of burning rubber filling the air, and my heart stopped as I saw what had caused Rafael to brake.

A small figure stood in the middle of the road, directly in our path.

Ollie.

“Jesus Christ,” Rafael breathed, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

We’d missed him by maybe two feet. Two feet between a normal stop and tragedy. Two feet between Ollie being safe and Ollie being under our wheels.

But what made my blood run cold wasn’t the near-miss. It was the look on Ollie’s face.

The boy was screaming. Not crying, not calling out—screaming like something was being torn out of him. His face was red and blot