Chapter 28

• JESSIE
• The parking lot of my apartment complex was a grid of cracked asphalt and faded yellow lines, a stark contrast to the vibrant, chaotic scene I had just escaped. My hands, still trembling slightly, gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white against the worn leather. The engine ticked as it cooled, the silence amplifying the frantic rhythm of my heart, which hadn't slowed its relentless pounding since I'd fled the grocery store.
• The drive home had been a tense, anxious blur. Every glance in the rearview mirror was a silent question, a desperate plea for Olivia's car not to appear, a phantom chaser in my already rattled mind.