The sky outside Katherine’s Brooklyn apartment was an eerie shade of gray, as if the world itself had paused to hold its breath.

She stood by the window, arms folded tightly, staring blankly at the flickering taillights down below. Her mind had been racing for hours: Kingsley’s silence, Carolina’s failed attempts to retrieve Beth’s phone, the paranoia creeping in with every passing day. Something was wrong. Deeply, unmistakably wrong.

Her phone rang.

She snatched it up without checking ...