Xavier’s POV

You don’t mistake silence like that.

Not when it’s cut sharp, jagged like someone tearing the line out of existence.

“Celeste!” I barked into the phone, my own voice ricocheting in my office But all I heard was dead air, the faint scrape of something before the connection died.

Silence.

Not the kind that comes when a call ends. The kind that rips away mid-breath, leaving only static and the thrum of panic.

The screen went black, her name fading from my phone as if she’d ...