Chapter 5

I did not wait until morning.

The message stayed in my head long after Vanessa's phone went dark:

Don't tell her yet. The ring came today.

I called Ethan from my bedroom with the door closed. The lamp on my nightstand cast a narrow circle over the sheets, and I kept staring at it while the line rang.

"What ring? "

There was a pause.

"What? "

"The ring you told Vanessa not to tell me about. "

Silence again, shorter this time.

Then he exhaled.

"Nora, it's for you. "

My hand loosened slightly around the phone.

He explained…