Chapter 28

Willa returned alone in the morning. She said nothing when she walked into the apartment, only trudged across the room and sat next to me on the couch.

We waited for a long time.

We waited while the sun rose to its highest point in the sky and then dipped low. Lower and lower, it sank, and silence reigned the apartment.

Nothing mattered except the message we waited for.

When day turned to night, the apartment door opened and Wren walked in. He was silent as he sat on Willa’s other side. He didn’t touch her, and she didn’t look at him. None of us looked at each other; we sat and waited.

The clock clicked closer to midnight.

My eyes grew so heavy I could hardly keep them open. Willa finally rested her head on Wren’s shoulder and clutched his hand, though every few moments her small snores would jolt her awake.

At one in the morning, Wren made each of us a cup of tea. The warmth of the mug and the sweetness of the honey was enough to keep us going until two.

The clock ticked past two.

Three.

Four.

The sky lightened closer to five. Our apartment had become something of a coffin, frozen in time and waiting for a miracle.

At 5:43, my phone rang.

We all startled out of our exhausted stupor, and I leaped for it on the side table. It was my brother’s name on the screen. Tears flooded my eyes as I answered the call and put it on speaker.

“Holland?” I whispered.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard my brother sound so exhausted. “She’s awake.”

Next to me, Willa covered her sob with both hands. Wren wrapped his arms around her and rested his forehead on her shoulder. I smelled the salty blood of his tears too.

The line went dead.

I didn’t care. It was enough to know Addie was alive.

Willa squeezed my hand. I fell onto her other shoulder all at once, and she threw her arms around me to hold me while my sobs turned to screams.

We all woke on the couch much later in the day with tear-stained faces and aches in our bones. I sat up from where I’d slept on Willa’s shoulder, and she stretched further into Wren with a long, tired sigh.

“We need to eat something. We have to get up,” Wren murmured, kissing Willa’s forehead.

At once, all three of us checked our phones—hoping to have heard something more from Holland.

There was nothing.

Silently, I reminded myself that knowing she was awake was enough. Holland knew her better than any of us; he could take care of her. And the moment he asked for help, we would be there.

“I have to shower,” I said, standing. “Will you two be here when I’m done?”

“Yes,” Willa said without hesitation.

Reassured that I would not be alone, I walked into my room to take a quick shower. While I was in my room, I tore the bloody, sex-soaked sheets from my bed and shoved them into the corner before replacing them with a new set—ones Eliza had never touched. Instead of taking the other ones to the laundry room, I threw them in the trash. I wanted no reminder that I had ever let her into my bed, or into my life.

When I returned to my friends in the living room, Willa handed me a mug full of blood and we each sat back in our spots on the couch.

“I know she’s not dead. I know she’s going to be fine, but it feels like she really died,” Willa whispered, her voice cracking.

I nodded in agreement.

Before any of us could say anything else, a single footstep outside the door creaked, and an envelope slid beneath it.

My blood ran cold, and I darted across the room, leaving my mug of blood on the counter to tear open the envelope.

It was written on hotel stationery in handwriting I didn’t recognize.

I’m sorry, Sophie.

I won’t do anything like this ever again.

Eliza

Rage.

“What is it?” Willa asked, appearing at my side.

I shoved it into her hands, but all I could think about was pure, unadulterated rage. I rushed out the door, hearing footsteps at the bottom of the staircase. The door to the outside of the apartment complex pushed open.

As quickly as I could, I bolted down the stairs and out onto the street.

I let her go yesterday.

I wouldn’t let her go again.

I hated her.

But by the time I made it onto the street, Eliza was long gone.

“Monster!” I screamed, falling to my knees.

I screamed until Willa and Wren carried me back inside.