Chapter 163
Elodie didn’t even look at the phone.
It buzzed against the mahogany desk, a frantic, vibrating little scream that tried to derail her train of thought. It was Dante. The name flashed on the screen, illuminating the dusty sunbeams cutting through the Miller house library.
But instead she stared at the laptop screen instead.
The buzzing stopped. Then started again.
And it was Liora this time.
Elodie’s finger hovered over the trackpad. The old instinct kicked in, to answer, answer, answer, she might be hurt, she might need you’ but she crushed it down like a cigarette under a heel. She took a sip of cold coffee, let the bitterness settle on her tongue, and kept typing.
---
"Dad!"
Dante paused, one arm halfway into the sleeve of his suit jacket. Liora was standing in the doorway of his walk-in closet, her phone held out like a weapon.
"Mom still isn’t picking up. Can you call her? Please?"
Dante looked at his daughter. She looked... unmoored. Her hair was half-brushed, her favorite ski jacket bundled in her arms, but her face was crumpled with a confusion he hadn’t seen in years.
"Alright." He pulled his phone out, dialed Elodie’s number, and put it on speaker.