The phone screen glowed in Sophia’s hand, casting a cold blue light across her fingers.

I looked from the screen to her face, searching for any sign of the friend I thought I knew.

“What is that, Sophia?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

She did not look at me; she kept her eyes on the phone as her thumb tapped the glass.

“It is the final authorization,” she said.

Marcus paused on the fifth step, his hand gripping the polished mahogany banister.

His brow furrowed as he looked down at her, his eyes narrowing into slits.

“Authorization for what?” Marcus asked, his tone dropping into a dangerous quiet.

“For the transfer of the primary system,” Sophia said, finally looking up.

She smiled, but it was a cold, practiced movement of her lips that did not reach her eyes.

“Elena was so desperate to leave you, Marcus,” she continued. “All it took was a little encouragement.”

My stomach tightened, a cold weight settling deep beneath my ribs.

“Encouragement?” I asked, the word dry in my throat.