Chapter 16. Retaliate

S:

We arrive at Rae’s apartment.

It’s empty.

But it smells like her.

Like jasmine soap and the faint burn of coffee gone cold.

The place feels hollow, like she just stepped out and the air hasn’t had time to forget her yet.

I scan the room, taking everything in—the shoes by the door, the half-drunk glass of water on the table, the jacket she always forgets to hang up.

She didn’t plan to leave for long.

A dark knot coils tighter in my gut.

Something’s off.

Footsteps echo down the hall.

I turn sharply.

Kieran appears, work tablet in hand, his face tight with tension. He crosses the room and holds it out to me like it’s something he doesn’t want to be responsible for.

“They went looking for a lawyer,” he says.

I take the tablet but barely glance at it.

“They?”

“Best friend. Eliza Carnell.”

My jaw ticks.

Of course Eliza would be with her.

But it doesn’t set