Zoe's POV
I couldn't stop staring at the bracelet.
It lay there on Brandon's table like it had always belonged—casual, unassuming, deadly. A thin line of faded stones threaded together with worn fishing line, the kind that frayed softly at the edges after years of being held, pulled, survived. It looked smaller than I remembered. Or maybe I had grown larger with time, with lies, with fear.
My chest tightened.
Why was I only seeing it now?
That was the part that scared me most.
I had been in this room before. More than once. I'd sat on that bed, leaned against that desk, and lasted in this space like I belonged here. And yet—somehow—I had never noticed it. Never clocked the way it sat tucked near the corner, like something precious that didn't need to announce itself.
If I had seen it earlier…
If only I had—
I swallowed hard.
I would've been prepared.
