LUCY
"This time."
The phrase echoes in the hollow of my chest long after his footsteps have faded. He knew. He knew about Cole and the failed ambush in the alleyway.
So, this wasn't random then. I was a target in a coordinated campaign, hunted with patience and precision. The Phantom had known too, all along. Perhaps the instruction to stay indoors had never been about my safety at all. Perhaps it had been about containment. Easy capturing.
This new fellow was likely a Khy'lin himself, or something worse that commanded them.
I can still hear the oily residue of his laugh even after he's been gone more than fifteen minutes.
No one is coming to your aid this time.
The full weight of my situation finally crashes through every defense I have left. And I break.
I cry. An ugly, wretched thing. Fat tears streaming freely, breath hitching and stuttering between sobs. And in between, I cycle through a carousel of rage.
