Viv:
Knox left to do his daily rounds, the slam of the door echoing through the apartment like a countdown starting in my chest.
I stood there for a second after he was gone, my hands shaking slightly as I held my coffee mug, the quiet pressing in all around me. It was too still, too quiet for the kind of chaos we were about to step into. My eyes drifted to the couch where he’d sat earlier, head in his hands, trying to untangle the knot of risk and strategy.
We had a plan now. A real one. One that involved me putting myself right in the middle of danger—but for the first time in forever, I didn’t feel like a pawn. I felt like a partner.
I felt like his partner.
That realization alone steadied something deep in me.
I set the mug down and got to work.
It was time to pack.
I started w
