She exhales, the tension from the confrontation leaving her shoulders. “You’re not supposed to say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I might believe you.”
“Good.”
She shakes her head but doesn’t look away. “Dinner with Stella and I tonight?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
After dinner, the house feels warm again—music low, a candle burning on the kitchen island, the scent of pumpkin filling the space. For a moment, it almost feels normal.
Safe.
Then my phone buzzes.
A message from KOAN flashes across the screen.
Warrant filed: Morgan, Alicia. Contact pending.
The illusion fractures.
I stare at the words a second too long before locking the screen.
Upstairs, Stella laughs at something with Alicia—unaware that everything is about to change.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Alicia
The landing creaks, and I know before I look up. Something in the sound of it—too deliberate, too careful—tells me this isn’t nothing.
Stella doesn’t notice. She’s laughing at a video on her screen, her feet tucked under her on the armchair in my office. I set my hand on her shoulder.
“Hey. Go start getting ready for bed.”
She looks up, reads my face the way she’s always been able to, and doesn’t argue. Just unfolds herself and heads up to the third floor without being told twice.
When the sound of her footsteps fades, I face Noah on the landing and gesture to the stairs—we can talk in the kitchen—but he steps past me and enters my office.
With an inhale, I follow.
He closes the door with a click that seems to echo like a gavel.
“What is it?”
“A warrant has been filed.”
“What does that mean?”
“They’re charging you with the murder of Matthew Delacroix.” He says it quietly, as if that softens the blow.
The room swims.
He catches my arm before I fold, his grip steady, grounding.