My phone was a cold, dead weight in my hand.
The screen had gone dark, but Danny's name seemed burned onto my retinas.
He sold your son. He is the reason you are in this cage.
Falon's warning was a drumbeat in my skull. Your composure is your only weapon.
I could still feel the phantom buzz in my palm.
Part of me, the old, desperate part, screamed to answer. To demand why. To hear his lies and maybe, somehow, find a shred of the friend I'd lost in them.
But the mother in me was louder. Harder.
With fingers that trembled only slightly, I navigated the menu. Block This Caller.
A single, final tap.
A strange, hollow peace settled over me. It wasn't relief. It was a severing.
I had just cut the last tether to the person I used to be. The slave who trusted. The victim who hoped. That girl was gone, buried under the marble and gilt of this mansion.
The new Riley had a son to protect and a crown to claim.
