They didn't stop running until their legs gave out.
Rain hammered the ground around them as they slipped behind the equipment shed near the east athletics field—half-hidden by overgrown hedges, long-forgotten by faculty.
Jace pulled Lena in first, followed by Dora and Jovic, bleeding and soaked to the bone.
"We can't stay long," Dora hissed. "They'll sweep the fields next."
"I know," Jace muttered, wiping water from his eyes. "We need a plan."
"I need a damn doctor," Jovic grunted, slumped against the rusted wall.
Lena knelt beside him, pressing cloth to his wound, hands trembling. "You're lucky he didn't throw you over the railing."
Jovic smirked, but it faded fast. "They weren't trying to scare us. That guy wanted me gone."
Silence fell. The storm outside covered their breathing.
Jace stood near the edge of the door, watching the school in the distance, glowing faintly through sheets of rain.
Then Lena asked, voice low:
"Why didn't you tell me you knew about the basement?"
Jace turned slowly.
She was still crouched beside Jovic, not looking at him.
"I saw you flinch," she said. "When we found the camera. You weren't surprised. Just scared it was found."
Jace's stomach twisted. "I didn't know that was there."
"But you knew something."
"Lena—"
"Did Emma contact you before he disappeared?"
His silence was loud.
"You lied to me," she whispered.
"I didn't lie," he said. "I… protected you."
Her eyes met his. And for the first time, there was no love in them. Just doubt.
Dora's voice cut through the tension.
"Someone's coming."
Flashlights moved through the trees. Voices—low, purposeful. The search was closing in.
Jovic winced, pulling himself up. "No time for drama. We move. Now."
Lena followed him, still shaken. Jace stayed a second longer, the rain hitting his face like glass.
He'd wanted to protect her.
But now?
She might become the one person who couldn't trust him.
And in a game this dangerous…
That could be fatal.