SLEEP REFUSED to come.
Lily lay on her side on the narrow mattress Jeremiah had dragged into the back room hours earlier, staring at the faint line of light leaking through the high window near the ceiling. The building had gone quiet in the way only industrial spaces ever did, a hollow stillness that amplified every breath, every shift of fabric, every sound outside.
Jeremiah lay beside her, flat on his back, hands folded loosely over his chest as if he were trying to convince himself this was rest.
It wasn’t.
Her body still hummed, wound too tight from everything that had happened. From Robert’s hands. From the way she had left. From Ronan’s voice breaking over the phone. From the knowledge that someone was looking for her now and not bothering to hide it.
The mattress dipped slight
