Lisa's POV

‘Why did I think sleep would calm my mind?’ If anything, it fanned the flames of my paranoia.

There I was, sprawled on my bed like a beached starfish, phone held above my face and rereading the message for the fourth time this morning.

“Mandatory?”

MANDATORY?!

That word alone had me pacing in mental spirals now. It didn’t seem like anything last night, but suddenly I read too much into it.

I narrowed my eyes at the screen, suspicion rising like a dramatic musical score in ...