Chapter 81

• Two months had passed since that night when worry had gripped me so tightly. Two months since I had called Ethan in the middle of the night, fearing that Jess’s shadow was still looming over us. But nothing had happened since then. No more cryptic messages, no unexpected appearances, no threats. It was as if she had vanished into thin air, and with each passing day, I allowed myself to breathe a little easier.
• Tiana and Adrian had also slipped into the shadows, their whereabouts unknown. At first, I had been on edge, wondering if they were lying in wait, ready to pounce when we least expected it. But as the weeks went by without incident, I began to believe that perhaps they were gone for good. Maybe they had realized that there was no place for them here anymore, no way to win whatever twisted game they had been playing.
• Life moved on, and so did we.