In the Glow of Cameras

e blinding, even b

de the car window, a huddle of paparazzi waited in the drizzle like vultures with credit card de

driver asked without looking at

eady," she re

trange silence of a hundred clicks. No one shouted her name. Not

s forward. Inside, the lobby was a wash of gold fixtures, soft jazz, and overpriced perfume. A man in a suit gree

. Her heart ticked louder than the floor numbers. She chec

led like berga

ng a glass of something dark. His reflection in the glass didn't

're

her bag. "You

matic face, all bone and storm, the way he looked at her like he could see the thoughts she had

le. "Someone

three block

the drink. "They'

nd walked toward him. "They

et it on the table. The tension between th

it's time

r w

to stop

ooled as if someone had o

not se

closing in. Someone knows, Lena. Someone who's no

d she wishe

t door. She and Callum, asleep in a Lisbon hotel room, limbs

handwritten n

s in you. I would

ints. Just a chill

y from Callum n

Not you. Not us. Just me. The girl who bagged the mystery

off, but he knew

ontrolling ex. The dead one. The silence she'd paid for with bruises and therapy and re

id quietly. "What I can't handle is

expression-frustrated, protect

I'm scared?

re pretending

the edge of the b

urmured. "Fear is fuel. It ke

ide her, shoul

egret it?

ha

is.

t answer

coul

secrecy. The mounting dread that their love wasn't someth

"But I do regret no

ing

watching us long b

But she felt his bo

lhouette framed by the fogged skyline. The city s

atching," she said.

r w

of us t

e buzzed once on the tabl

picked

mess

num

their Paris trip six months ago. Her in the bath, eyes closed, sin

ow-vi

o. Just stared at it like i

t blackmail," h

nod

is is p

led between

iting-cameras lifted, lenses trained on a

, in the glow of came

omeone was watching throug