She leaned into the camera, a smirk cutting through the grain of the video feed. “Glad to see comprehension finally kicked in.”
The jab landed squarely against the heavy silence, but instead of shattering it, the tension seemed to bleed out of the room just a fraction.
Jamie, who had been quietly observing, let out a sudden, involuntary snort—the sharp, clumsy sound of a teenager trying, and failing, to maintain a facade of seasoned calm. He quickly lowered his head, his shoulders tensing as he attempted to conceal the lapse, keenly aware of the gravity of the conversation.
The small, human sound offered a momentary break in the intense focus of the room. It was the kind of irreverence they needed to keep from suffocating under the weight of the plan.
On the monitor, Harper’s smirk d
