“Now.”
His voice cracks like a whip.
I reach for the phone with trembling fingers.
I know what’s there.
What can’t be opened.
What cannot be seen by him.
But I also know something else:
Noah doesn’t ask twice.
I unlock the screen.
The notification is still pinned at the top:
1 New Voicemail
Unknown Number
Noah’s breath touches the side of my face.
“Play it.”
My vision blurs.
“I—I can’t.”
His fingers dig into my hip.
“Scarlett,” he says softly, “who the fuck called you?”
My heart hammers.
Kai’s last words slam into my skull with brutal force:
I’m not knocking next time.
I swallow hard.
I can’t tell Noah the truth.
I can’t let him hear the voicemail.
I can’t survive the explosion that would follow.
So I do the only thing I can think of— I lie.
“It was a scam number,” I whisper. “Probably one of those automatic voicemails. Spam.”
Noah doesn’t move.
Doesn’t breathe.
Doesn’t buy it.
