The room was quiet again.
But not the same quiet.
Before, it had been empty.
Now—
It was full.
Full of words that hadn’t settled.
Full of truths that refused to stay still.
Emma lay back against the hospital bed, her eyes open, fixed on the ceiling. The steady beeping of the monitor filled the space, rhythmic, mechanical.
Alive.
That word felt distant.
Unimportant.
Her fingers rested lightly over the blanket, unmoving, but her mind—her mind refused to stay still.
Stephanie’s voice replayed.
The messages… they were from me.
Emma exhaled slowly.
It didn’t feel like betrayal.
Not entirely.
It felt… calculated.
Layered.
Too deliberate to be accidental.
Her gaze shifted slightly toward the window, where the city lights flickered faintly in the distance.
You wouldn’t have be
