Edward Reed slept next to Heather Parker with his back to her while she stared at the ceiling of the hotel room and clenched her fingers around her phone. The room was filled with a deafening silence, laced with regret, guilt, and something much more sinister: the knowledge that she had been a mere pawn.
Only a few hours before, Edward had absentmindedly mumbled something in his sleep about leverage and blackmail. Regarding Michael. She had been thinking about it ever since.
Being cautious not to wake him, Heather sat up and went through Edward's burner phone's old messages. With each screenshot, each erased draft he had concealed, her heartbeat accelerated. agreements. pictures. Anonymous messages had ripped Michael apart from the inside out. She took a deep breath. This was not the manipulation of a lover. This was intentional sabotage.
She had also fulfilled her role.
She slipped out of bed, snatched up her heels and coat, and ran from the suite as if it were on fire behind her. It was, in a sense. Everything she had trusted about Edward was disintegrating, including his self-assurance, mystique, and attention. Instead of fear, something sharper—shame—caused her heart to race.
Lorna Jenkins's phone buzzed while she was in her home office across the city organizing therapy notes. She hardly gave it a glance—until the sender's name made her stop.
Mason H.
She opened the message with shaking fingers.
"I've missed our brief exchanges. Were you really expecting to stay hidden forever? I always find what's rightfully mine.
She tightened her throat. Mason's taunting, possessive, and cruel voice reverberated in her mind like a ghost from the afterlife. It had been years since she last saw him. She had begun to think he was finally gone because she hadn't even heard his name in a long time.
However, he wasn't. Once more, he had located her.
With her pulse hammering in her ears, Lorna put down the phone and sat back with her hands over her mouth. The serenity she had worked so hard to cultivate shattered like glass under a hammer. She believed she was secure. She believed that she had found peace in escaping the past and altering her life.
It was all coming crashing back now. And Michael was the only person she wanted to speak with and the only person she shouldn't call.
She knew in her heart, however, that the storm they had just started to weather was far from over.