Page 134 of Fractured Loyalties
I reach for the drawer beneath the sink.
The false bottom is still there.
I lift it.
Empty.
I stare at the space like I expect it to lie to me.
It doesn’t.
Elias’s voice is low. “What was in there?”
“A flash drive.”
“Yours?”
“No. My mother’s.”
He stiffens.
“You never mentioned it.”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“What was on it?”
“I don’t know. She left it to me when she died. Said it wasn’t time yet.”
Elias moves to the window. Checks the angle. “The person who took it knew what they were looking for.”
“Yeah.”
“Which means they’ve been watching you longer than you think.”
The cold settles deeper into my chest.
“What if this isn’t about you at all?” I whisper. “What if I was the target before you ever showed up?”
He turns.
And for the first time, his face isn’t just hard.
It’s afraid.
Not for himself.
For me.
“We need to get back,” he says. “Now.”
I don’t argue.
Because I can feel it too now—the crack in the pattern.
Something’s not circling anymore.
It’s closing in.
