LOGINWe pass a group of teens on e-scooters, a couple tangled in their own hands and hair, and then we’re alone again, the trees making a tunnel of privacy. I keep reading, even as my feet move on their own, and only stop when we reach the narrow footbridge over the drainage creek—water barely moving, mo
“You could have sent this to the FBI,” I say, flipping pages, not looking up. He snorts. “You know as well as I do, that’s a death sentence. For me, for you, for half the witnesses inside these walls.” He looks at the pond, the way the wind skims the surface, making even water look nervous. “I want
I set the phone down so hard the battery cover pops loose. I don’t bother to fix it. I return to the files, to the graveyard of what passes for a life, and start marking up the next phase of the plan. If I’m going to let Lucas back in, even for a minute, I need to be ready for everything he might do
The city at this hour is a test of willpower. Even eighty floors up, it presses in—crushing, faceless, indifferent. The only thing more relentless is the silence inside my own skull. The office has been stripped down to essentials: a lamp, a desk, and me, the last organism standing. The air, when I
Reynolds is smart; that’s the whole problem. He’s built his accusation on a lattice of “concern” and “unexplained deviations,” every line engineered to sound plausible while remaining deniable. No hard evidence, but just enough smoke for the board to believe there’s a fire. I grab a legal pad and s
He shrugs. “Consider it a professional courtesy. The real show will start in the morning. I thought you’d appreciate a head start.” He picks up my pen, twirls it between his fingers, leaves a shallow groove in the finish. “You’ve always been… unpredictable, Mara. But this?” He gestures to the letter
The wolf dominates with relentless force. The moon dictates. The moon owns. My body sings with strength. I don’t know how to be Mara in this primal melody. I don’t know how to be Mara at all. Power surges in unfamiliar rhythms. The forest yields to my strength. I don’t want to yield. It is wild. It
The lock clicks behind me, each sound an echoing note of freedom. I inhale the promise of the morning and the heavy shroud of Derek’s latest message unfurls in the back of my mind. I will not think about it, about him, until I must. The weight of obligation falls away as I step forward, closing the
The first hum of traffic stirs beneath the apartment, the city awakening like a great beast stretching itself from slumber. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, bare feet meeting the warmth of the hardwood with practiced silence. In the hush, I hear the measured tick of my wristwatch from acros
My name commands attention, even whispered behind mirrored walls. Mara Wolfe. I sense the weight of their eyes on me, catch the reflection of their stunned admiration. Before my floor arrives, they already fear me. The girl with the coffee spills half of it on the way to her mouth, staining her bl







