KADE

I had given that answer because I wasn’t about to explain to her that the night I first felt her presence in my mind, I was having a conversation no one else needed to know about.

I had to be sure she hadn’t heard anything she wasn’t supposed to—anything that might throw a wrench into my plans. Everything was already going wrong on that end. I didn’t need extra problems.

Nothing she had said so far was convincing. Perhaps it was my cynicism at play, or maybe I just couldn’t bring myself to believe her because I felt like someone had been listening in on the conversation when it...