Chapter 1 - THE EMPTY TRAY
The mirror above the porcelain vanity was splattered with tiny droplets of crimson.
Elowen leaned heavily against the cold edge of the sink, her chest heaving as she pressed a damp, folded hand towel against her face. Blood trickled down her upper lip, warm and metallic, soaking through the white terrycloth. Her scalp throbbed where Kael’s fingers had tangled into her roots moments earlier, yanking her back with brutal, uncalibrated violence.
In the dim light of the closed bathroom, newborn Leo wept against her shoulder—a tiny, helpless sound that pierced right through Elowen's frantic pulse.
She adjusted her grip, keeping her left hand cupped securely behind the baby's fragile head while her right hand reached into the pocket of her cardigan for her phone. Her fingers shook so violently she nearly dropped the device into the basin.
She swiped the screen wake.
NO SERVICE.
Elowen stared at the top corner of the display. A cold knot tightened in her stomach. The house had four bars of steady cellular signal every hour of the day. Trembling, she pulled a small silver paperclip from her cardigan pocket—a habit from her work as a legal archivist—and jammed the pin into the tiny hole along the phone’s aluminum edge.
The tray popped open with a quiet mechanical click.
It was completely empty. The plastic holder sat bare.
Someone hadn't just jammed her signal; they had physically removed her connection to the outside world.
THUD!
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The heavy oak bathroom door rattled violently in its frame, making Leo jump against her chest.
"Open this, Elowen!" Kael’s voice boomed from the hallway, stripped of the calm, gentle facade he wore in public. "Open the damn door!"
