Chapter 51: Kael
There’s a moment—rightbefore a game-winning faceoff—when the air changes.
A half-second when the ice gets too quiet.
When the sound drops out.
When your instincts, honed through a lifetime of being hit and hitting back, whisper something’s coming.
That’s what this feels like.
Except there’s no rink.
No whistle.
No crowd.
Just me sitting alone in my living room with the security plan open on my laptop, waiting for a text that should’ve come eight minutes ago.
Wren’s text.
Her thirty-minute check-in.
The one she promised.
I check the clock again.
8:32 PM.
She was supposed to text at 8:20.
I tell myself not to jump to conclusions.People get busy.People shower.People fold laundry.People breathe.
But Wren?
Wren does not forget.
Especially not tonight.
I pick up my phone.Scroll.
Nothing.
I type a message.
KAEL:
Check-in.
I wait.
