Casper pressed a single button.
The call screen appeared.
Dialing.
My body went rigid.
“No…”
The word slipped out before I could stop it.
“No, wait…”
“One minute forty seconds.”
His tone was calm, not loud or angry and that made it worse.
“Casper, please…”
“One minute thirty.”
My chest tightened so hard it hurt to breathe.
My fingers tightened around the paper resting on my lap.
“You’re destroying her life…”
“One minute twenty.”
The document trembled on my lap.
Rose’s face filled my mind.
Her laugh, her voice. The way she used to sit beside me on that narrow prison bed, talking about freedom like it was something real. The way she shared her food when I couldn’t eat. The way she shielded me when others tried to break me.
“She doesn’t deserve this…”
“One minute ten.”
My
