The call came at 6:14 AM.
Leighton was still asleep. Noah had been awake for two hours already, sitting at the kitchen island with cold coffee and a phone he kept checking like it owed him something. When the unknown number lit up the screen, his chest tightened before he even answered.
He stepped out to the back patio. Closed the door behind him. The morning air was cold and damp. The garden smelled like wet soil.
"Noah." Her voice was exactly as he remembered it. Smooth. Deliberate. The kind of voice that never rushed because it never needed to. "Don't hang up."
He didn't.
"Jennifer." He kept his voice flat. "You've been busy."
"I've been patient." A small pause. "There's a difference."
He said nothing. He watched a bird land on the edge of the fountain, dip its beak once, fly awa
