The pounding on the door came at 2 PM.
Novalee was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at nothing, when the urgent knocking started. Not Dante's measured knock. Not Atlas's key.
Frantic. Desperate.
She went to the door, looked through the peephole.
Greysen.
Novalee opened the door and Greysen pushed inside, breathless, eyes wild.
"Don't say anything," they hissed, pulling out their phone and typing rapidly. They showed Novalee the screen:
*Your phone is bugged. Don't speak. Just read.*
Novalee's blood ran cold. She nodded.
Greysen kept typing:
*I found help. Real help. Remember Marcus Chen from college? His family runs one of the big mafia families here - Iron Serpents. I told him everything. His father David Chen wants to help. They hate Dante.*
Novalee grabbed the phone and
