Tessa barely slept.
She closed her eyes, but sleep refused to come. She tossed once, then again, inhaling shallow breaths as the roses sat on the kitchen counter like a quiet curse.
Who brought them? Who was close enough to leave something right at her doorstep without being caught on sight?
And then the note…
I’m sorry.
Two words, but her mind made them infinite.
She woke up early, before the sun properly stretched itself across the buildings. She pushed the duvet away and sat up slowly, staring blankly at the wall opposite her bed.
For the first time since moving to this new place, she felt unsafe inside her own home.
Her body reacted before her mind: she stood, walked to the door, and checked the locks again. The click of metal against metal sounded too loud in the silence. She
