The night had turned cold, the kind of cold that doesn’t come from weather but from something deeper — the quiet before a storm you can’t yet see. Kieth had been gone since dawn, and I’d spent the whole day pacing the penthouse like an animal in a gilded cage, waiting for word.
He’d told me not to move. Not to open the door. Not to touch the phone he’d left on the counter unless it was him calling. I tried to obey, I really did. But when your sister’s life hangs in the air like a loose thread, silence isn’t safety — it’s torture.
The city outside glimmered with indifference. Neon lights, faraway laughter, the pulse of life continuing while mine hung suspended. I sat curled up on the couch, staring at the faint reflection of my face in the glass wall. My eyes looked hollow, unfamiliar.
T
