His legs trembled under him as he rose—only halfway at first, his knees shaking so hard the camera blur caught the motion. He got up. For a single, impossible second, Marcus was upright—leaning forward, face strained, one hand reaching out toward her, toward the router, toward the woman’s shoulder as if to stop her.
As if he’d been waiting for this exact moment and couldn’t let her finish. The woman didn’t even flinch. She just yanked. The router lights died. The screen froze mid-motion—Marcus half-standing, arm extended, mouth open as if he was saying something Julia couldn’t hear. Then the app refreshed. Camera offline.