high-security embassy gala. But nothing, nothing felt like this.

ent flats, dress hem tucked above her knees. She made it past the

the walls wer

tly from a carved arch s

muttered, br

't just a

as a

sses, Damian Arceo leaned forward in the surv

ng to the screen. "She's

a brow. "You w

and pocketed a few folded documents, then swiped t

aid coolly. De

r with every echo of boot

ed low, and pressed her back against the

no way b

locked automatically, she guessed. A sm

ry corridor, but two guards rounded the corner too

behind her: "Wron

out - until a firm hand g

y hoodie and worn jeans. Not a guard. Not a

low, but there was something delib

caught," he said, "you m

anyone, especially strange men

had no

any of the floor plans Isla had hacked. He tapped something on th

" he

nd the panel closed b

y wide enough for two. Pipes above

ank him, but he

sweat, the estate was still humming quietly with polite grief. No one noticed

he crowd before any gu

ngs, Damian pulled down the hood of his sweatshirt

hands, sharper instincts,

d pulled out a small locket s

pene

woman he recogni

t shouldn't

curled into

t y

the tinted windows as the car s

the backse

Not even when Marco looked at her through the rearv

," he finally mu

date. A photograph. A handwritten line beside her mother's name, some

t was something. A thread in the mess of

mured. "They locked the path b

osed to have t

en. Mayb

underground parking of their safehouse. "We'r

catch me,"

underestimated the Arceos, Lyra. That wasn't some rich guy's wake, that was a viper's d

used mi

cked behind her. The way that strange man, hooded and calm, knew ex

est ti

locket on instin

o