Chapter 7 #3
“Okay, I’m about to be a little nosy,” I warned, glancing around the spacious living room. “But if you’re not working, how can you afford this place?”
Talia tossed her keys into a decorative bowl near the door. “When I got laid off, I didn’t know how long I’d be out of work. I had enough money saved, so I went ahead and paid my rent six months in advance.”
“Oh.” I nodded, impressed. “That was smart.”
“Yeah, but those six months aren’t going to last forever. That’s why I really need to secure that job. I don’t want to wait until my rent is due again to start panicking.”
“Makes sense.”
“The room you’ll be sleeping in is the second door on the right,” she said, pointing down the hallway. “Towels are in the hall closet if you want to shower. And we’re basically the same size, so if you need clothes, I got you.”
I smiled at Talia’s generosity.
She had opened her home, her closet, and apparently her entire life to me without hesitation.
That was extremely kind and careless of her.
I swayed slightly against the wall, still committed to my fake drunk performance. “You’re literally the best.”
“I know,” she boasted confidently. “Don’t get too emotional and throw up on my carpet,” she kidded.
I gasped dramatically. “Wow. And here I was about to write you into my will.”
Talia chuckled. “Girl, go to bed. I’ll be in my room if you need me,” she called out, disappearing down the hallway.
Once inside the room, I laid down to rest.
Truth was, I was a little tipsy. I wasn’t as drunk as Talia thought… not even close. A ride home was all I needed for my plan to work. But staying at her house? Even better. That was a blessing wrapped in opportunity.
Around two in the morning, I woke to silence. I eased out of the bed and moved quietly through the hallway, my eyes scanning corners and ceilings.
Old habits… Willowgate habits.
I located two cameras: one was in the living room, the other near the hallway.
I disconnected both, smoothly and quickly, coiling the cords neatly under the kitchen sink.
Then I crept into Talia’s room holding a little parting gift I’d taken from Willowgate before they released me back into the world—a syringe.
It was just a mild sedative, nothing lethal.
After spending years locked around unstable people, paranoid staff, and padded walls, I’d learned one thing: never move through the world defenseless, so I carried it everywhere I went those days.
People think meds make a person harmless. What they don’t know is, it just makes them prepared.
Talia stirred the moment the needle kissed her skin.
“Ha-Haelyn?” she murmured weakly, eyelids fluttering as if she was trying to wake up through a dream.
I gently brushed a curl away from her forehead.
My voice came out soft, almost loving. “Shhh. It’s okay, love… just sleep. I would say this is business, and nothing personal, but it is personal. Still, it’s nothing you did wrong, just something I have to do.”
I stood there for a moment, watching Talia drift into unconsciousness, chest rising slowly and steadily. The sedative smoothed her breathing into something fragile and childlike.
In that moment, I thought about the girl who used to share closets, secrets, and dreams with me. The sister I once believed would always be mine.
Then I bent over slightly and whispered, “You were my sister once, that’s why I’m letting you keep your breath… for now.”
As I straightened, her phone caught my attention from the nightstand.
A soft, almost dreamy smile touched my lips as I picked it up and sat on the edge of the bed.
There was no passcode to enter, no fingerprint lock, or face ID. The phone was just sitting there unlocked and exposed, like an invitation, practically begging the wrong person to pick it up.
“Rookie mistake,” I muttered, smirking. “You can tell who’s meant for greatness and who’s just meant to be used.”
I swiped through photos first—selfies, food snaps, and memes that made me want to laugh and gag at the same time. Then I moved to the messages that consisted of friend chats full of gossip, random men trying too hard, bank alerts… little pieces of a life so normal it almost felt foreign to me.
After a few minutes of scrolling, I came across a message thread between Talia and a woman named Zonnique.
My eyes sharpened.
She must be the one claiming to be Jace’s fiancée? I wondered.
My hand trembled slightly as I read the name repeatedly.
It was all there—the time, date, and address where the interview would take place.
I glanced over at Talia, sleeping peacefully under the sedative. “You really thought you would carry my man’s child? Not in this lifetime.”
I diverted my focus back to the photo. My thumb brushed across it, slow and soft, like touching a memory that never died.
A mischievous grin slid across my lips.
“See you soon, Jace... I mean, Merge.”
I locked the phone, slid it into my pocket, and stood.
Talia’s breathing was too calm, and her trust was too easy.
I looked down at her unconscious body and tilted my head. “Now… what am I gonna do with you?”