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Mathias answers, “To talk to Adrien.”

“But why are you here?”

“Because he wasn’t where he said he would be.”

The words don’t land right. Daddy said he had an errand—just an errand. My fingers dig into Rabbit’s plush body. “He’s coming back.”

“I know,” Mathias says with such certainty that for a second I almost believe he knows Adrien better than I do. And maybe he does. The thought hurts.

Quillan watches me for another moment before his expression lightens again. “Want something to drink?”

“What?”

“Juice? Water? I’d offer coffee, but Adrien seems like the kind of psychopath who’s already created rules about your caffeine intake.”

He has.

I don’t answer, but Quillan stands anyway, plucking my empty cup from the coffee table. Mathias makes no move to stop him. My eyes follow as Quillan walks into the kitchen.

When he opens the fridge, light spills out over his hands. “Apple or orange?”

I stare at him from across the room. “Apple,” I say before I can stop myself.

“Excellent choice.”

Quillan examines the handles of my cup as he fills it with apple juice.

I want the floor to swallow me.

When he returns and hands it to me, I take it reluctantly, careful not to let our fingers touch. “Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome,” he says, and I lift the cup to take a sip.

I sip my juice.

Time passes.

Five minutes.

Ten.

Daddy still isn’t here.

The men haven’t moved. Quillan stretches his legs out; Mathias watches the dust motes drift in a slant of mid-morning light. My phone is a cold, hard shape beneath Rabbit’s soft body. I keep glancing down at it, as if hoping it might come to life and save me.

Eventually, the quiet becomes its own kind of noise—a hum underneath my skin. Fear begins to press harder against my ribs, not sharp like panic, but dull and spreading like a stain.

I open the messages. My fingers shake so badly I almost drop the phone.

Me: Daddy, men are here

Send.

Quillan sees. His eyes drop to the glowing screen, then lift slowly to mine. He doesn’t smile.

I yank the phone back against my chest, Rabbit muffling its shape. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says.