Wrong person 280

Chapter 280 

I don’t know how I’m breathing. 

Maybe I’m not. Maybe it’s just muscle memory, like dancing through a routine I’ve done a thousand times. Step, turn, leap-inhale, exhale, pretend like nothing hurts. 

But everything hurts. 

Boomer pulls into Asher’s driveway, engine ticking softly after he shuts it off. He turns toward me slowly, eyes heavy with something I don’t want to name-something too 

gentle, too understanding. 

“You ready?” he asks. 

I nod, even though I’m not. Even though every nerve in my body feels like it’s caught fire. 

The walk to the door is slow. I’m hyperaware of my heartbeat, of how my fingers twitch at my sides like they want something to hold on to. Boomer doesn’t speak, doesn’t push, just 

walks beside me like the shield he’s been all week. 

He knocks once. 

The door opens faster than it should’ve. 

And there he is. 

Asher. 

My breath catches so hard it hurts. 

He looks… different. Not in the obvious way-he’s still massive, still that same impossible 

blend of danger and beauty-but there’s something cracked open in his face. In his eyes. 

In the way his hand tightens on the edge of the door like he’s holding onto it to stay 

Chapter 280 

grounded. 

“Hey,” Boomer says lightly, a neutral offer of peace. 

“Thanks for bringing her,” Asher replies, his voice low and rough. His eyes never leave 

mine. “I’ve got it from here.” 

Boomer hesitates. 

I glance at him and nod. “It’s okay.” 

He studies me for a second longer, then steps back with a short breath. “I’ll be around if 

you need anything.” 

I manage a weak smile. “Thanks.” 

And then he’s gone. 

I don’t know what I expected when Asher opened the door. 

Not the way his eyes lock on mine like he’s afraid I’ll vanish. 

Not the tension in his jaw, the bruised, exhausted shadow under his eyes. 

And definitely not the silence that settles like a fog the moment Boomer steps away and 

leaves us alone. 

We don’t move at first. Not toward each other, not away. 

Just breathing in the same space for the first time in days that felt like years. 

He steps back and lets me in. The air inside his place is warm, filled with the clean, 

grounding smell of pinewood and soap. Something about it stings behind my eyes. 

He doesn’t sit. I don’t, either. 

He just looks at me, and then- 

“I should’ve told you everything that night,” he says quietly, voice raw and steady. “I 

realized it about two seconds after you walked out the door with Boomer.” 

My heart clenches. 

Asher runs a hand over his mouth, then through his hair, like the memory physically 

hurts. “But I was in fight mode. Fix mode. You were hurting, terrified, and all I could think 

was that I needed you safe. That was the only thing that mattered.” 

I don’t say anything yet. I let him speak. 

“I’m not in a gang, Penny,” he says, eyes sharp and clear. “I’ve never been. The Vultures… 

that was never my life. Never my choice. I didn’t grow up in that world. I didn’t want 

anything to do with it. But someone I cared about got dragged in.” 

He pauses, breath stuttering. 

“I was twenty. Just a kid in the Navy, home for a few weeks before a deployment. My best 

friend, Cal, got caught up with the wrong people. Gambling, debt, bad decisions. He owed 

the Vultures more money than he could ever pay.” 

He steps toward me slowly, hands shoved in his pockets to keep them steady. 

“They beat the hell out of him. Sent a message, like they always do. He called me from 

the floor of some alley, bleeding, broken. He didn’t know who else to call.” 

My breath catches. My chest aches. 

“And then they sent him a photo,” he says, voice tight and shaking now. “His little sister. Nine years old. Playing soccer. Pink cleats, blonde ponytail. That’s when I realized what kind of monsters we were dealing with.” 

Chapter 280 

He finally looks at me, eyes hollow with memory. 

“I didn’t know what else to do. So I went to them. I offered to pay off Cal’s debt, in full. I’d just gotten a re-up bonus from the Navy. It was supposed to go toward a new truck.” 

He huffs a humorless breath. 

“I didn’t tell anyone. Not my superiors. Not my family. Not Tyler, who was still living out of state. I made the deal in a dirty office behind a warehouse. Told them they’d never see Cal or his sister again. They took the money and agreed. Or so I thought.” 

I move closer, heart pounding.