[Elijah]
One Hour Earlier...
The sharp trill of my phone cut through the silence of my office, and my gaze drifted toward the screen. The name glowing on the display made my breath catch.
Hazel Addams.
For a full second, I just stared at it. The device sat innocently on the desk, buzzing softly—but my mind was far from still. Hazel. Calling me. Voluntarily.
I blinked. Was I hallucinating?
After how she’d flat-out rejected my job offer—after the walls she’d so stubbornly rebuilt between us—there was no universe where Hazel Addams would willingly pick up her phone and call me. Why would she call me? To accept the job? No way.
Unless…
Images sparked in my mind without invitation. The day before yesterday—Hazel’s pale, trembling body crumpled on the floor, sick and half unconscious. T
