Chloe didn't drive away.
She sat in her car just outside the estate gates, engine off, headlights dark, fingers locked tight around her phone.
Her gifts had been left untouched.
That had never happened before.
Lyra's silence replayed in her head. Rowan's guarded eyes. The way their shoulders angled away from her—subtle, instinctive.
They were slipping.
No.
They were being pulled.
Chloe scrolled through her contacts, thumb hovering.
Don't, a voice in her head warned.
She ignored it.
She pressed the name.
The line rang once.
Twice.
Then—
"You shouldn't be calling me," the voice said calmly.
Chloe swallowed. "They're turning."
A pause. Not surprise. Calculation.
"Because of her?"
"Yes," Chloe snapped. "Because Raina is back. And Lucian—he's circling. The twins don't look at me the same anymore."
Another silence.
"What do you want?"
Chloe stared at the dark estate beyond the gate, jaw tightening.
"I want this stopped."
"Careful," the voice warned. "You already buried one secret."
Her grip tightened on the phone.
"I didn't ask for help then," Chloe said softly. "I'm asking now."
The line went quiet.
Then:
"If I step in, there's no undoing it."
Chloe hesitated.
Just for a heartbeat.
Then she said the words that sealed her fate.
"Do it."
A slow exhale on the other end.
"Very well. But understand this—when truth starts bleeding, it won't spare you."
Chloe hung up.
Her hands were shaking now.
She told herself she had no choice. That she was protecting what little she had left.
She started the car.
As she pulled away, she didn't see the red recording light blinking on the gate camera.
Didn't know the system had archived the call.
Didn't know that someone—soon—would hear her voice say one unforgivable word.
Do it.
And just like that, Chloe made her first real mistake.