Lily grabbed her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she reached Mark's name. She tapped it and brought the phone to her ear, waiting as the line rang.

"Hey, love," Mark’s smooth, warm voice came through, a welcome contrast to the tension that had been building all day. "Calling to check up on me?"

"Something like that," Lily replied, her tone light but hurried. "I just got a strange message from Alpha Tech. They’re claiming they weren’t informed about the reason they weren't ...