Red barely made it back to her apartment before her phone buzzed again.

  Cindy.

  She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before answering. “Cindy, now really isn’t—”

  “Don’t ‘Cindy’ me,” came the dramatic reply. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for hours.”

  Red sank onto her couch, rubbing at the tension in her temple. “I’ve been working.”

  “Ugh, of course you have. Listen, we have important things to discuss. It’s almost time for my Happily Ever After Ball, and I have the perfect dress picked out for you—”

  “Cindy.”

  “—and I know, I know, you hate these things, but I refuse to let you skip out this year. It’s going to be even bigger than last time. I got the DJ from that exclusive spot in New York, and—”

  “Cindy, I can’t.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  A pause. Then, “Oh, come on, Red. Just for a few hours. You need a break from all your doom and gloom.”

  Red shut her eyes. “This isn’t about doom and gloom. It’s serious.”

  “Oh, please, you always say that.” Cindy huffed. “What’s the excuse this time?”

  Red hesitated. Cindy was her best friend, but she wouldn’t understand. She lived in an entirely different world—one of galas, press events, and luxury vacations, where danger was just something that happened in true crime podcasts.

  But Red had seen it firsthand.

  “I think the Wolf is back,” she said finally.

  Silence.

  Then, Cindy laughed. “Red, babe, no offense, but you’ve been saying that for years.”

  Red’s grip tightened around the phone. “Because I was right.”

  “Oh my God, you sound just like you did in high school. You were always convinced there was some grand conspiracy. The Illuminati, the deep state, your neighbor being a lizard person—”

  “That was one time, and Mr. Garcia never blinked.”

  Cindy snorted. “Listen, if the Wolf was really back, don’t you think the police would be doing something?”

  Red exhaled slowly. “That’s the problem. They’re not. At least, not fast enough.”

  “Well, I refuse to live in fear,” Cindy declared. “And besides, Daddy’s already tripled security for the ball. If there was some psycho running around, I’d be the safest person in town.”

  Red frowned. “Cindy—”

  “I gotta go, babe. Love you!”

  The line went dead.

  Red cursed under her breath and tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

  Cindy didn’t get it. She never had.

  And if Red was right—if the Wolf was back—then no amount of hired security would save her.