By Day 12, the adrenaline of Victor’s departure had bled away, replaced by a grueling, high-stakes exhaustion. Briar was no longer just a woman waiting for her lover; she was a silent guard managing a sanctuary that didn't officially exist.
The plumbing was the first thing to betray the stillness.
It started with a rhythmic, metallic clanging deep within the walls of the mudroom- a sound that felt like a heartbeat gone wrong. By the time Briar returned from a long shift at the bakery, a pool of cold water had crept across the dark wood floor. Her stomach dropped. In a normal home, this was an inconvenience. In Victor’s hidden world, it was a security breach.
She knelt in the water, her hands shaking as she pulled back the small access panel Victor had pointed out during her "Transfe
