Ava’s POV

Kara’s words hanged in the air like a fate I'd already accepted to live with. I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket, thumb scrolling quickly to the number I had saved under a fake name earlier on. My hands were not steady. I hit the call button and pressed the phone to my ear while Kara watched me over the roof of the car, eyes bright and patient.

It rang twice before he picked up.

“Cole.”

His voice was exactly the same as it had been in the office — low, calm, already carrying the quiet authority that had made me drip on his wife’s couch. The...