POV: Kesley

The screens showed me everything. I’d been lying in the aftermath of our call, still sprawled across the rumpled sheets with my pulse settling.

Then the alert chimed from the security console. Luther’s voice came through the intercom, clipped and professional.

“Unknown vehicle approaching the gate, Miss Cross. Stay where you are, do not come down for any reason..”

My body went cold. Not fear exactly… something sharper, more alert. After the school, after Nora’s silent threat in the car park, the timing felt too precise.

I pulled on Leo’s discarded shirt from that morning, buttoning it with shaky fingers, and crossed to the wall of monitors. The...