She clicked .

The email arrived at 2:33 AM on a Tuesday, which should have been Elena’s first warning. The subject line read:

She stood up so fast her chair rolled into the wall. She stared at the drywall behind her monitor. A fine, hairline crack ran from the ceiling to the baseboard. She had never noticed it before. But now, as she looked closer, it wasn't a crack.

“Don’t load it,” he texted.

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