Page 110 of Fractured Allegiance

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I stand. Walk to it. Pick it up.

The weight surprises me. It feels heavier than before.

Like it knows what I’m thinking.

I press a button, and the screen flares to life.

No messages.

No calls.

Just the single contact he programmed in before giving it to me. No name. Just a number.

I stare at it.

Not dialing.

Just... holding the possibility.

My thumb hovers over the call button.

One press, and he'd answer. I know he would.

But I don't press it.

Not yet.

Because calling him would mean admitting something I'm not ready to say out loud.

That I want him here. That the space he left behind feels louder than the silence ever did before.

I think about the way he looked at me when I asked him who he really is, and he answered with a word no one else has ever used like a name.

Wreckage.

I should've laughed. Should've thrown it back at him. But all I could think was how right it sounded.

Not as an excuse.

As a warning.

And I think I want it anyway.

I put the burner back down.

Time slips in quiet increments right before my eyes, dusk creeps in.

I move to the bathroom and have a quick shower, then I slip into some fresh clothes, earrings, other accessories, and a jacket.

Because I know Drazen’s going to call soon. He’ll send Dom. Or worse, he’ll show up himself.

And I need to be ready.

Because whatever game he thinks I’m playing?

I’m not losing again.

The knock comes twenty minutes later.

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