Soo-jin was right. Attachment changed my perspective.
My hotel room was quiet. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at my phone for three full minutes before calling Eamon.
He answered on the second ring. "Griffin. Talk to me."
I leaned back against the headboard. "Someone accessed the principal's hotel room last night. Moved personal items. Left evidence specifically to show they'd been watching him sleep."
"They reported it?"
"Immediately." I paused. "Then nothing. No follow-up. Minjae witnessed an unauthorized presence during the show, someone filming from the wings. Today's rehearsal was clean. Tonight's show was flawless. Management is interpreting the silence as evidence that increased security worked."
"You don't agree."
"No." I tightened my grip on the phone. "The pattern doesn't fit standard escalation. It was a demonstration of access and awareness."
Eamon was quiet for a moment. "What's your read?"
"Confirmation," I said. "Someone establishing what they can see. Testing whether the principal would seek help or try to handle it alone. When he sought help immediately, the contact stopped."
"So the silence is tactical."
"Yes. And the system is responding by assuming the threat resolved itself. That creates precisely the complacency that makes the next phase easier."
"What does your gut tell you?"
My gut told me someone had been watching Rune sleep. That they knew about the kiss. That they'd seen enough to understand what we tried to hide.
"That the threat didn't stop," I said. "It completed its first phase."
"I agree." Eamon's voice lowered. "What's management's position?"
"The senior manager is proposing reduced restrictions for Portland. He thinks I'm overreacting." I stood up and walked to the window. "He also suggested that my proximity to the principal might affect my judgment."
Eamon was silent for a beat too long.
"Is he right?"
"The investment is real," I said.
"That's not what I asked. Griffin, are you operating from competence, or from fear of what could happen to your principal?"
I gripped the phone harder. "I see the threat. I trust my assessment."
"That's still not an answer."
"Both." The word came out rough. "I see the threat clearly. I also know what it costs when a system decides someone's safety is negotiable. When they become—" I stopped. My breathing had changed. "When they become inconvenient."
"Griffin."
"I can't—" I pressed my palm against the window glass. Cold. Solid. "I can't let what happened in Seattle happen again. I can't watch someone get hurt because I second-guessed myself. Because I tried to be professional instead of—"
"Instead of what?"
"Instead of trusting what I know is true." My voice cracked slightly. "Someone was in his room, Eamon. They watched him sleep. They're waiting."
I stopped. Closed my eyes. Forced my breathing to slow.
"I can't lose him."
