I pocket my phone and head back to my car.
Callum thinks he’s sneaking around, that he’s clever by showing up at night when he thinks I’m not around.
He has no idea I’ve been watching the whole time.
He has no idea that her dad’s camera system just got upgraded.
He has no idea that this situation stopped being manageable the moment he climbed through that window.
But he will.
I’m done sitting back and waiting for things to get worse before acting. I’m done watching her go back to that house every night knowing what’s waiting for her there.
And I’m done pretending there’s a version where she stays with her dad and everyone ends up fine.
There isn’t.
The only question now is how we get her out.
And how much damage control we’ll need to do once we make our move.
I start the engine and pull out of the parking lot, already running through scenarios in my head.
Already planning three steps ahead.
Because that’s what I do.
I see what’s coming before anyone else does.
And what’s coming is a choice she’s not ready to make yet.
But I am.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Tigerlily
I’m sitting in Victorian Lit staring at the same paragraph I’ve been staring at for twenty minutes.
Jane Eyre is trying to leave Thornfield. Running from Rochester because staying means losing herself.
I underline a sentence. I realize I have no idea what it says and start over.
My professor is talking about symbolism and moral agency and the constraints of gender, but all I can hear is Jax’s voice in my head.
Your dad installed new cameras last week.
Two more.
I pay attention.
My hands are shaking. I press them flat against the desk to make them stop.
The girl next to me glances over. I pretend to take notes, write the date in the margin, and underline it twice.
Class ends, and I don’t remember a single thing that happened.
I drive to Zinnia’s elementary school on autopilot, gripping the steering wheel so tight my fingers ache. She climbs into the passenger seat and immediately starts talking about her day—something about a science project and a boy named Alfie who keeps stealing her eraser.
I nod at the right moments and make sounds that could pass for engagement.
