The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the steady beep of the heart monitor.

Then, the burner phone in her pocket began to vibrate again.

The loud, buzzing sound cut through the tension like a knife.

She did not reach for it this time.

We both stood there, staring at each other, as the phone buzzed against her thigh over and over.

The screen lit up through the thin fabric of her uniform, casting a faint blue glow.

I took a half-step forward, my eyes locked on the pocket.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” I asked.

Her hand hovered over her pocket, the fabric vibrating against her leg.

She looked at the door, then back at me, her chest rising and falling beneath her nurse’s uniform.

“It is none of your business,” she whispered.

The blue light of the screen died, plunging her side of the room back into shadow.

The silence that followed was heavy and cold.

“I think it is,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “Jason is paying you to keep Ethan in this state, isn’t he?”