Time did not move forward so much as it pressed down.
The days that followed settled into Scarlett’s bones with a strange, restless weight. Morning drills bled into strategy briefings. Dinners stretched long and tense, filled with half-spoken warnings and looks that lingered a second too long. The Hawthorne estate felt fuller than it ever had, yet lonelier at the same time, as if every wall now held secrets it had not before.
Scarlett felt different.
Not stronger. Not weaker.
Awake.
She noticed things she once ignored. The guards rotated more frequently. The subtle shift in Michael’s posture whenever certain names were mentioned. How Margaret watched her now with an unease she could not hide, as though looking at a daughter she loved and feared in equal measure.
Scarlett did not conf
