chapter 125

Angela’s POV

I sat alone in the silence of my room, my heart racing, knowing I couldn’t escape the storm I’d set in motion. The phone lay heavy in my hand, and I felt the urge to call James back, to scream, to demand answers, to get any shred of remorse from him. But I knew better; it would be met with that twisted satisfaction of his, that smug amusement he never bothered to hide.

The things he’d said echoed back to me, and his words refused to let me go.

*“You think you’re any different from me?”* he’d sneered.

My mind replayed it over and over. His laugh, mocking me. I wanted to escape it, but then… another voice began to invade my thoughts.

Alice.

I could still hear her voice from when this all began, cool and taunting, twisting the knife in as she threatened me. As if she were here again, taunting me.

*“Angela,”* she’d said back then, *“did you think you could keep Lyra safe from all this? She’ll do whatever I tell her to. For you.”*

“Alice,” I had whispered, my voice barely ste