Page 231 of Ranger's Wildflower

---

That’s the first thing I notice.

Not the message. Not the flowers.

The candles.

Which means whoever did this—

They were here for a while.

Lighting them. Placing everything. Taking their time.

And they weren’t in a hurry to leave.

My jaw tightens as I scan the room again.

Too clean.

Too controlled.

“They were waiting for us,” Tessa says quietly behind me.

I don’t answer right away.

I move through the room again. Check corners. Shadows. Entry points.

Nothing.

“We missed them by minutes,” I say finally.

“Not missed,” she says. “They wanted that.”

That stops me.

I turn to her.

“They wanted us to see this,” she continues, gesturing around the room. “The flowers. The candles. The note. This wasn’t rushed. This was staged.”

She’s right.

“This wasn’t about fear,” she adds. “It was about control.”

The word lands hard.

I step closer.

“They don’t have it,” I say.

She meets my eyes.

“They think they do.”

Something shifts in me.

Something colder.

“Not for long.”

Blaze steps in,scanning the space.

---