The phone outside Caro's bedroom door stopped vibrating so suddenly that the silence afterward felt violent. She stood frozen near the center of the room, staring at the live camera feed on her laptop while rain crashed harder against the mansion windows, turning the darkness outside into shifting shadows. The glowing screen of the abandoned phone remained perfectly still in the hallway, its message unchanged, cold and deliberate beneath the dim emergency lighting.
HE CANNOT PROTECT YOU THIS TIME.
Caro's breathing grew uneven as her grip tightened painfully around her own phone. "Peter…" she whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen. On the other side of the line, she heard a sharp sound of movement, then another car door slamming. He was close now. Close enough for urgency to replace distance completely.
