My phone rings while I am brushing my teeth. The vibration rattles across the counter and startles me hard enough that I nearly drop the toothbrush. It is close to midnight, and no one ever calls this late. The number is blocked. For a moment I stare at the screen, heart thumping against my ribs, trying to convince myself it is a wrong number, a spam caller, a glitch. Anything ordinary.
I swipe to answer.
A breath slides through the speaker. Slow. Purposeful. Familiar.
“Oh, Elena.” The voice curls around my ear. “Did you really think a prison cell would hold me forever?”
I freeze in place. My hand grips the phone so tightly my fingers ache. My lungs forget how to breathe. For a moment the world goes strangely silent. Even the hum of the apartment’s old refrigerator fades.
Adrian.
He
