The sound of the security locks disengaging echoed softly through the mansion just before dawn, sharp enough to pull Caro out of the rigid stillness she had trapped herself inside for nearly an hour. She stood near the bedroom door without moving, her fingers still wrapped tightly around her phone while the live hallway feed continued glowing across the laptop screen beside her. The abandoned phone outside her room remained motionless beneath the dim emergency lights, but the threatening messages had stopped. No new alerts appeared. No footsteps followed. Only silence pressed against the walls now, tense and listening.
Then Peter's voice came through the line again, lower this time. "It's me."
