The air outside was thick with the weight of what Ryan had just told me. Kyle wasn't acting alone. There was someone else—someone more dangerous, more calculated.
I tightened my coat around me as I stepped onto the sidewalk, my heels clicking against the pavement in sharp, purposeful beats. The city was alive around me, but I felt like I was walking in a fog, my mind racing with possibilities.
Who the hell was pulling Kyle's strings? And what did they really want?
I barely made it three blocks before my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I hesitated. Then, against my better judgment, I answered.
Silence.
Then a slow, deliberate breath on the other end.
"I warned you not to go digging, Isabella."
My blood turned ice-cold. The voice was distorted, masked by some kind of voice-altering software, but the intent was unmistakable.
A threat.
I forced my voice to stay even. "And yet, here you are, proving that I'm on the right track."