Emily’s POV

Austin stepped fully into the light with his hands raised. He looked as though he had done it without thinking, his fingers trembling as his eyes found mine almost immediately.

He mouthed two words. ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he swallowed and mouthed. ‘I had no choice.’

I kept my face blank and let my eyes rest on him long enough to make him understand that I had heard him.

Over the past few months, I had learned not to give people more of myself than they needed to see, ...