They knew my shame. That I never belonged here. They knew things only someone inside Marcel’s world would know.
MISTRALKID:Why contact me now?
SABLEFOX:Your father’s appeal is a busy thing. Court files move. Names surface. Yours among them. Your brother’s. Your mother’s.
I froze.
The cursor blinked in the gloom.
SABLEFOX:Tell me, did you ever learn the rest of Rosalie’s story? Or did Marcel leave you in the dark like everyone else?
My lungs emptied.
Mom. Her death. Her blood on a steering wheel that wasn’t meant for her. Her soft hum in the kitchen. Her hands smelling like lemons. She was the only light in that house. The only softness in Marcel’s empire. And he let her die.
I typed with numb fingers.
MISTRALKID:What do you know about my mother?
A long pause. He was dishing the bait and I was falling for it, yet I couldn’t stop. Not with the mention of my dear mother. The pause was long enough to make me feel watched.
SABLEFOX:Enough. Answers cost. And you have debts you never paid.
My pulse hammered.
SABLEFOX:Next time you want the truth, come alone. No Thornes hovering. No police. And no guards trying to clean your mess.
The floorboards creaked in the hallway outside the loft. My heart jumped into my throat.
For one sickening second, I thought it was Olivier. Or Nico. Or someone Marcel sent. Maybe someone from town who’d finally decided one Bellerose was one too many.
But then. . .
“Harmony? You up here?” Eric’s voice.
Warm, familiar, and soft enough to shatter me into pieces. I slammed the laptop shut so fast it rattled the table. I wiped my palms on my jeans, trying to catch my breath before Eric opened the door. He stepped inside, eyes sweeping the loft like it might hurt me. Like everything in it was a threat. His gaze softened when he saw the thistle and recipe card. His features folded into something tender and worried.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here alone?” he murmured.
“I just… needed to grab a few things.”
Lie.
And it tasted like poison.
He reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
I was far from fine. I’d never known safety in Val-Du-Lys. Not in the years the town treated me like a warning. Not when Marcel shaped my childhood into a weapon. Not when Nico’s loyalty shifted the wrong way. Not when Olivier blurred the line between brother and shadow. Not when Mom’s death cracked my world apart. Not when running was the only thing left to do. And not now.
Eric wrapped an arm around my waist gently. “Let’s go home.”
Home.
Where I wasn’t welcome to half the town. Where danger was circling.
Where SableFox was waiting. Where no one knew what was coming.
