The words barely left her mouth before the bakery’s warmth felt different.

He found me.

Grim didn’t look away from her—but his attention sharpened instantly.

His eyes shifted toward the front windows.

Snow drifted outside. Streetlights flickered. Nothing moved.

But the girl wasn’t looking at the street.

She was looking at the door.

Her small fingers clenched tighter around Grim’s shirt like it was the only solid thing left in the world.

“He said I wasn’t allowed to run again,” she whispered, voice breaking. “He said I belong to him.”

A chair scraped somewhere behind them.

Every conversation in the bakery stopped completely.

Grim slowly rose to his full height, placing himself between the girl and the entrance without touching her—just close enough for protection.

The bell above the door rang.

No one entered.

It rang again.

Still nothing.

But the girl flinched hard anyway, like she could hear something everyone else couldn’t.

Grim’s jaw tightened.

“Hey,” he said softly, without turning around. “Look at me.”

She did.

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His voice stayed steady, but something dangerous settled underneath it.

“You’re not going anywhere with anyone you don’t choose.”

The bakery lights flickered once.

Outside, a shadow passed the fogged glass.

And this time—

Grim saw it too.