Conrad.

I could feel her fear before she opened her mouth.

That was the strangest part. We were sitting at Marlow's kitchen table with the burner phone lying in the middle of it, and a cold knot had formed in my chest that wasn't mine. It pulsed in time with a second heartbeat, fast and light, a little to the left of my own.

Skylar's hand was under the table, gripping my knee. I covered it with mine and the knot loosened, just slightly.

“Don't do that,” she whispered. “You'll make me ...