Chapter 6 - The Broken Connection
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I didn't flinch away from his grip. I simply tilted my head, matching his frantic energy with absolute, freezing stillness.
“Then call the basement, Adrian,” I challenged.
Silence descended upon the library, thick and suffocating. The only sounds were the heavy breathing of the dogs on the other side of the door, and the panicked, distant shouting of the hired muscle in the foyer.
“Call them,” I repeated softly. “Tell them to light the match.”
He let go of my face as if he had been burned. I heard the frantic rustling of fabric as he dug his hands into his tailored suit pockets, pulling out his cell phone. His thumb tapped furiously against the glass screen. He brought the phone to his ear.
I sat completely still, listening.
Through the quiet acoustics of the room, I could hear the faint sound leaking from his phone speaker.
One ring.
Two rings.
Then, the cold, generic voice of an automated carrier message: “The number you are trying to reach is currently out of service or has been disconnected.”
Adrian gasped, a sharp intake of air that sounded exactly like a drowning man. In a blind rage, he swung his arm and struck me hard across the mouth with the back of his hand.
I fell sideways, my shoulder hitting the floor, but I didn't cry out.
“You moved them!” he screamed, his voice cracking with hysteria. “You knew I was coming and you moved them out of the house!”
I pushed myself back up to a sitting position, tasting fresh blood on my tongue.
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“No, Adrian,” I said, letting out a soft, dark chuckle. “You never had them to begin with.”
That was the very first crack in his fragile reality. The moment he realized he was not the predator in this scenario. He was the prey, and he had willingly walked right into a cage I had built just for him.
