The message came earlier than expected.
8:16 a.m.
Direct.
Unfiltered.
We need to talk.
No greeting.
No context.
No hesitation.
I stared at the screen for a moment—not because I didn’t anticipate it, but because of the timing.
Faster than projected.
Which meant one thing:
Mara hadn’t just observed.
She had concluded.
⸻
“You were right,” Shawn said from across the room.
He hadn’t asked.
He had already seen.
“Yes.”
“She moved early.”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Why?”
I set my phone down slowly.
“Because she doesn’t trust delay.”
That was Mara.
She didn’t wait for patterns to complete.
She moved when she had enough.
And “enough” for her—
Was always sooner than expected.
⸻
“Where?” he asked.
“She didn’t specify.”
A beat.
“I will.”
Because location mattered.
Control depen
