A small disposable phone arrived at the mansion the next morning. No return address. No note. Just a plain brown envelope dropped at the front gate with Raven's name written in block letters.
One of the guards brought it to her while she was finishing breakfast in her quarters. Raven took the envelope without a word. The second she felt the weight of the cheap phone inside, something cold settled in her chest. She knew exactly what this was.
She waited until the guard left before she opened it. She sat on the edge of her bed and turned the black phone over in her hands. For a long minute she just stared at it, thumb hovering over the power button. Part of her didn't want to hear it. Another part needed to.
She pressed play.
Marco's voice came through, rough and broken. He sounded nothing like the steady trainer who had pushed her through years of brutal sessions.
