dicate, I needed to return eve

sweat and old iron. I walked past the bloodstained

ttered screws and wooden planks. He was pain

l from my pocket, its weight

. Covered in blood, he had run across the arena, shoved it into my tre

dal out to hi

w furrowing in immediate

, my voice deadpan.

t over his broad shoulder. It hit a metal hardware box with a loud, hollow clank

already turning back to his screws. "Grab that heavy box

" I

crewdriver. He looked at me, his face tur

g you, and I am

ction, I turned around and walked out

dicate archives, buried

ewing blackmail files. I dropped a heavy stack of illicit ope

his eyes to the st

stare. "I organized and archived eve

unusual behavioral pattern for you, Sienna. But if you think this pathetic silent treat

, clutching a course catalog to her chest. "Silas,

im. He stood up and pulled a chair out for Mia, his co

," he said, not even bothering to look b

chives withou

in the afternoon sun. He shoved a thick, encrypted hard drive hard against

ays aggressive, always invading personal space. "It has eighteen years of o

old metal of the drive

eaving no room for argument. "Replace your parts with Mia

aid, my voice trembling with a quiet fur

d toward the garage, already dismissing my existence. "Have

t restaurant. Two years ago, it was in this ex

dead. Lucian spent the entire appetizer course texting on his phone.

aced it on the pristine white tablecloth and sl

ng, but instead of panic, he let out a heavy sigh and l

er break," he said. He sounded utterly bored by my display. "You will calm

a single wor

ive into my computer. In the dead silence of my room, I backed up eve

, I left the original drive sitting