Elena almost didn’t check her phone when it buzzed again that night.
She was already in bed, the flat quiet except for the low sound of rain against the window. The earlier message still sat in her screenshots like a bruise. She had told herself that if anything else came it would wait until morning. Then the screen lit up and she reached for it anyway.
Same unknown number.
He won’t protect you when it becomes inconvenient. They never do.
She stared at the words until they blurred. Then she screenshotted it, forwarded both messages to Adrian, and set the phone face down on the bedside table. Her hands were steady. The rest of her wasn’t.
She didn’t expect a reply. One arrived inside ten minutes.
Received. Don’t answer. Don’t delete. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.
Nothing else. No reas
