(Matthew’s Point of View)
My heart was thudding in my chest, and the phone tumbled from my fingers, the impact muffled against the marble. The text message seared itself into my memory, the letters swimming as I fought to regain control of my breathing.
"We know what you’ve done, Matthew. It’s time for you to pay."
Just a few words. A straightforward message.
But the effect? It was like a detonation, a force I couldn't sidestep.
Esther.
I glanced at her, still by the window, her silhouette illuminated by the streetlights' gentle glow. She was oblivious, unable to grasp the magnitude of the impending upheaval. I, however, understood. And in that moment, the barriers I'd erected to shield myself, to shield her, began to disintegrate, fragment by fragment.
I approached her, my legs fee
