Chapter 87 Eighty Seven

• ARIEL'S POV
• My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. It started early, just as I was trying to get through the morning. One ring. Two. Then silence. Then again. Then again. Over and over, like a cruel reminder I couldn’t escape.
• I tried everything. Switched it to silent. Put it face down on my desk. Slide it beneath a folder. Out of sight, out of mind—right? Wrong. Because it kept buzzing. And buzzing. Until the pressure in my chest felt unbearable, like the phone itself was screaming at me. Like the universe wouldn’t let me forget.