Hour twelve:I couldn't sit. Couldn't stand. I paced. Living room to office. Office to kitchen. Kitchen to hallway. Over and over.
My phone sat on the coffee table, ringer on maximum. Daring it to ring. Dreading it.
It stayed silent except for James's updates. Each one a variation of "nothing yet."
Hour sixteen:I was in Daisy's room again. I found one of her yellow hair ribbons under the edge of her bed. I wound it around my fingers, over and over, the satin soft and worn.
She liked to wear them when we read together. Yellow meant she wanted a happy story.
When had I last read to her? Last week? Five days ago?
God, I left Anna to do everything. I should’ve done more.
Hour twenty:The visions started. My mind supplied its own horror show.
Daisy is crying for me in the dark. Did she think I'd abandoned her? Was she hungry? Cold? Scared?
Anna. The thought of what Carter was doing to her wasn’t just physical pain. He would peel her apart mentally.
He would destroy her soul before he touched her body.
And she would let him. She would take it all to protect Daisy.
Hour twenty-four:James found me in my office, staring at empty security monitors.
"I brought her here," I finally said. My voice sounded dead. "I painted a target on both of them."
"Jack—"
"My surveillance gave him a blueprint. My need for vengeance was the first domino. This is my design."
James leaned forward. "Carter Wilson abducted them. Not you."
But the logic didn't land. It couldn't land.
Hour thirty-six:I was back in the kitchen, making coffee I wouldn't drink, when my phone rang.
Not a text. A call.
Unknown number.
My entire body went rigid. The phone vibrated on the counter, that simple label mocking me.
Unknown Number.
James was in the room in seconds. He saw the phone. His eyes met mine.
"Answer it," he mouthed. "I'm recording."
My hand shook as I reached for it. Swiped to answer.
"Hello?"
Static. Breathing. Then?—
A voice. Smooth. Calm. Deranged in its pleasantness.
"Hello, Jack. Did you get my video? I hope the lighting was good."
