Chapter 10 · She Wasn't Dead Yet

I stared at the screen.

Fifty thousand people had just watched me run. Fifty thousand. The chat was still scrolling so fast the words blurred into a white wall of noise. My hands shook. The coffee shop's back office smelled like burnt espresso and cardboard, and I was crouched behind Dennis's desk like some kind of animal.

Cole stood by the door. Arms crossed. Face stone.

"You saw it," I said.

He nodded once.

"The message. The elevator. My mom."

"I saw it."

I pushed up to my feet. My legs felt like water. "So you're gonna tell me now. Right now. What happened to her."

Cole didn't move. "Ivy—"

"Don't." I stepped forward. "Don't do that thing where you look at me like I'm gonna break. I just had fifty thousand strangers watch me almost die on a rooftop. Someone out there knows what happened to my mom. And you—" I jabbed a finger at his chest. "You've known this whole time."

His jaw tightened. "Sit down."

"No."

"Sit. Down."

I sat. Not because he told me to.