Chloe’s POV

The next morning started wrong.

The sky outside was pale gray, moody, quiet, heavy, and still. The kind of silence that made you afraid to breathe too loudly, as if the house itself was listening, or maybe it was. I woke before sunrise, my chest already tight and paining me, maybe part of the morning sickness, the memory of Gold’s warning still echoing in my mind.

But before I could even gather myself, Jake was already in the room, standing by the window with his phone in ...