The ticking of the wall clock was the only sound in my dorm.
My eyelids fluttered. The faint glow of my desk lamp still lit the room in soft amber, casting long shadows across the walls. I must've fallen asleep while reviewing files. My laptop hummed lowly, still open to the database Elias and I had dug into earlier.
I stretched, body aching, but something felt…off.
The scent hit me first—delicate, familiar, and suffocating all at once. My blood froze.
Roses. Blue roses.
I turned slowly.
There, on my pillow, where my head had just rested, lay a single long-stemmed rose. Vivid cobalt. Dew clinging to its petals.
My heart thudded so loudly I swore it echoed.
He was here.
Grayson. In my dorm. While I slept.
A cold sweat broke across my skin. My breath stuttered. I backed away from the bed, limbs trembling as I scanned the room.
No signs of a break-in. The door was locked. Windows shut. No footprints. No camera. Just...the rose.
I snatched my phone with shaking hands and hit the call button for Elias.
He answered on the second ring. "Scarlett? You okay?"
"No," I whispered. "He was here. Grayson was here."
A beat of silence. "What do you mean—"
"There's a blue rose," I said, voice cracking. "On my pillow. I just woke up and it's there. I didn't hear anything, Elias, I—I slept through him being here."
"I'm on my way," he said immediately, voice sharpened with urgency. "Don't touch anything else. Lock your door. Stay on the line with me."
I fumbled for the lock even though it was already bolted. My legs gave out and I sank to the floor, knees pulled to my chest. I felt like I couldn't breathe.
How had he gotten in?
How long had he been watching?
And worse—what had he done while I was unconscious?
The thought made my skin crawl. I glanced at the rose again, its petals lush and impossibly vivid in the low light. A message. A warning. A claim.
It wasn't just his calling card.
It was proof of his power.
Elias's voice grounded me through the phone, but the silence inside my room was louder. Pressing. Claustrophobic.
Grayson hadn't left a note. He didn't have to.
The rose was enough to say, I'm closer than you think. And you'll never see me coming.