The email arrives at exactly nine in the morning.
Dianne is halfway through applying lipstick when her phone vibrates against the vanity. The color streaks slightly at the corner of her mouth as her hand stills.
She doesn't need to look to know what it is.
She caps the lipstick with deliberate care, sets it down, and only then reaches for her phone—buying herself seconds she no longer has.
Subject:Notice of Procedural Advancement
Sender:Dawson & Associates
Her throat tightens.
She opens it.
The words are clean. Polite. Ruthless in their restraint.
Her non-response has been recorded.
The deadline has lapsed.
Proceedings will move forward without voluntary cooperation.
Dianne reads it twice, then a third time, as if repetition might dull the edge. It doesn't.
Her stomach drops.
They're done waiting.
Joseph's team has stopped asking.
That is far worse than anger.
