MIDNIGHT DID not feel like a moment.
It felt like something alive, crouched just outside the walls, breathing slow and patient, waiting for permission to come closer.
The building had gone quiet in the way only structures meant to endure did. Concrete absorbed sound. Steel held it. The city outside screamed and laughed and sang itself hoarse, but inside the safe location, every noise felt deliberate. Measured. Counted.
Lily stood near the center of the room, phone heavy in her hand.
“I want to call him,” she said.
Jeremiah looked up from the screen he had been monitoring. He did not react immediately. He did not tell her no. He did not ask why.
He simply waited.
“On speaker,” Lily added. “With you here.”
His jaw tightened just enough to be visible. “He’ll try to destabilize you.”
