Chapter 2: The Message That Changed Everything
Vincent knocked on Sarah's door at seven in the evening.
She opened it with Lily on her hip, the little girl clutching Mr.
Buttons with both hands, and the moment Sarah saw Vincent's face she knew it wasn't a routine check-in.
"She needs to go to bed first," Sarah said quietly.
They waited.
Twenty minutes.
Then Sarah came back to the kitchen, sat down across from Vincent, and folded her hands on the table like a woman bracing for impact.
"He was sh0t three days ago," Vincent said.
"He's alive.
But his heart — there's a condition.
It's serious."
Sarah didn't speak for a long moment.
"How serious?"
"Serious enough that he's done waiting."
Her jaw tightened.
"He doesn't get to just decide that, Vincent.
Three years.
Lily is three years old.
She draws him without a face because she doesn't know what else to put there."
"I know."
"Does he know she cries for him?
Not by name — she doesn't even have a name for him.
She just cries and points at the blank space in her drawings and asks me why."
Vincent said nothing.
There was nothing to say.
Then Sarah's phone lit up on the table between them.
Unknown number.
But the message that appeared on the screen made her go completely still.
*They know about the girl.
Get out of the apartment.
Now.*
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What Sarah did next — and who sent that message — changes everything.
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