"Please call me back."
"Please."
Raiden's throat tightened.
He kept scrolling.
The last message was from just a few hours ago.
"Dear Raiden, if you see this message, please contact me as soon as possible. I don't know what's going on, but I need you to tell me. Please. I need to know you're okay."
Raiden's eyes burned.
He had been so focused on surviving, on protecting Aria, on dealing with one crisis after another, that he hadn't even thought to check his phone. He hadn't realised how worried she must have been.
And now, looking at all these messages, seeing how her tone shifted from playful to worried to scared, he felt like the biggest asshole in the world.
"Morg," he said quietly, his voice thick. "I—I...I am genuinely sorry."
There was a pause.
"You should be," she said, but her voice had taken a nasal turn as he heard a sniff from over the phone. "You really should be."
