Just that still hum that comes right before something detonates.
I checked my watch. Three minutes. She said one. I told myself it didn't matter. She was just grabbing something. Just picking up a piece of memory. A page from the past we could use to rebuild the future. I told myself she was fine. She had to be. I couldn't take anything else being stolen.
I walked toward the building. Didn’t rush. Didn’t scan the street.
I let my mind drift back to Camille’s journal, to the notes I’d made in the margins, to the way Barron’s jaw had gone tight when he realized the final page wasn’t about inheritance. It was about a contract.
She had signed something. I didn’t know what yet. But I would.Soon.
I reached the door. It stuck slightly when I pulled it open. My fingers tightened around the frame.
Inside, the air was stale. Not unusual. Old buildings always smelled like this. Like concrete and regret.
I took the stairs instead of the elevator.
Habit.
My footsteps echoed. Second floor. The light above the stairwell buzzed.
Her apartment door was ajar. My pulse didn’t spike. Not yet. She was in a hurry. That’s all. She didn’t close it all the way.
I stepped inside. The cold hit me first. Then the silence. It was too still. Like a pause that had waited too long for the next note.
I scanned the room. Slow. Deliberate. Floor vent open. Dust scattered around it. A chair tipped over. That was the first shift. The first crack in my ribs.
She wouldn’t have left that. She was messy, yes. Chaotic, sometimes. But not careless. Not here. Not in this.
I moved farther inside. The mattress was untouched. But something in the air had changed.
I bent down, picked up the chair. And saw the wrench beneath it. Blood on the handle. Not a lot. Just enough. My lungs turned to ice.
I stood. Fast.
Checked the bathroom. Empty.
The closet.Empty.
Her scent still lingered in the air. Faint. Cedar. Smoke. Fear.
I pulled out my phone.
No messages.
No calls.
My fingers flew.
Texted her.
Where are you?
Delivered.
No read.
I turned?—
But something pulled me back.
