I told myself I was fine.
That the dizziness was gone, that the sleep I barely drifted in and out of had been enough to reset whatever my body had tried to scream at me last night.
The mirror didn’t argue.
It simply reflected a woman in cream silk and quiet determination, hair twisted perfectly, lips stained just enough to remind people I was still the same Alice who had walked into the Monroe Foundation event and silenced Emily without ever raising her voice.
But the truth?
It was layered beneath my skin.
It pulsed behind my eyes.
And when I arrived at the office, every fluorescent light above me felt like it was humming directly into my spine, threatening to pull the cracks wider.
Camilla was waiting.
Of course, she was.
Like a hawk that hadn’t tasted blood in weeks and suddenl
