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“No.” His fingers tapped the keyboard. “I checked.”
Another monitor appeared. Signal diagnostics. Power logs. Recording logs. Everything… normal.
“I don’t understand.”
Knox swallowed. “The cameras never went offline.”
Rafe finally looked at me. “They were still recording.”
My stomach turned. “Then where’s the footage?”
Knox looked sick. “It doesn’t exist.”
The words landed like a knife. “Someone removed exactly three minutes.”
“No.” Knox’s voice was quieter. “Someone made sure they were never written in the first place.”
My jaw tightened.
Professional.
Military.
Not luck.
Planning.
Rafe folded his arms. “He knew exactly where the blind spot would be.
I stared at the frozen timestamp.
11:45.
Three minutes.
Three minutes was all he needed.
Three minutes to walk through Blackthorn.
Three minutes to stand in my study.
Three minutes to touch Lily’s ribbon.
Three minutes to walk into Nyssa’s bedroom.
Three minutes…
To tell me my home had never been safe.
No.
Worse.
To tell me…
He’d wanted me to know.
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