POV: Yessica | Location: Edinburgh
Yessica didn't speak first.
She waited. Held the phone. Let the silence do what silence did — reveal who was more uncomfortable with it.
Catherine Sterling was not uncomfortable with silence.
Ten seconds. Fifteen.
Then: "I expected you to hang up."
"I considered it," Yessica said.
"But you're curious."
"I'm careful." Yessica stood up. Moved to the window. "There's a difference."
A pause. Something shifted in the quality of the silence — not warmer, but different. Like a recalibration.
"I'm in London," Catherine said. "I flew in this morning."
"Why."
"Because conducting a legal campaign against someone from four thousand miles away is ineffective. I've apparently demonstrated that." The dryness in her voice was unexpected. Not self-deprecating
