“What the fuck?” I blurt out, my eyes skimming the letter again.
Why would Nocté suddenly cut ties?
And whynow, of all times?
I mean, it’s not like I had any intention of going back—not after Carlie.But what the hell?
The letter feels heavy, its words a stark finality to something I hadn’t even fully grasped.
Nocté had been an escape—a world away from the ordinary, and now, just as abruptly as it entered my life, it’s exiting.
The timing can’t be a coincidence.
That all too familiar frustration bubbles up, hot and unyielding.
Questions race through my mind, each one a dead end. I turn the letter over in my hands, as if the blank backside might hold more answers.
It doesn’t.
This is all too closely entwined with everything else—Jillian’s machinations, the Instagram chaos, and my deepening connection with Carlie.
Maybe Nocté caught wind of all the bullshit, too, and decided I’m a liability.
Carlie’s face flashes into my mind—the way she smiles, the way she looks at me—like I’m someone worth looking at, worth caring about.
The idea that she’s being drug into this mess, into the fallout from a part of my life she had nothing to do with, is unbearable.
I take a deep breath, trying to quell the rising panic.
This is a warning—hell,a sign.
CHAPTER30
Carlie
As I head home from Lily’s house, I feel like a ship adrift.
My thoughts are churning like stormy seas and all I want is to retreat to my apartment—to be alone with the chaos swirling inside me. But fate, it seems, has other plans, as it tugs at my intuition.
I’m halfway up the stairs to my place when I pause.
The familiar sounds from Grandma’s apartment seep through the door—the clink of china, the hum of her old radio.
I know I should just go home and sort through the tangled-up mess in my head, but something pulls me back down the steps and towards her door.
I knock softly, and her voice, warm and inviting, calls out, “Carlie, is that you? Come in, dear.”
Grandma’s sitting at her kitchen table with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. One that I know all too well. “Carlie, just the person I wanted to see. I need your help with something.”
I can’t help but smile despite everything. She always has a way of drawing me in, even when I’m determined to shut the world out.
“What do you need help with?” I ask, walking through her open dining area. When I reach her, I pull my phone from my pocket, set it on the table, and sink into a chair beside her.
Her grin spreads and my insides coil as she replies, “I need enlightenment.”
Nothing good can come from that smile.
Why did I think it was a good idea to come here again?