x knew how t

ed press junkets, dodged contract renewals. It was almost an art for

was

s str

prote

from Hollywood's blinding stage lights, Ca

ni

ed onto a side street and pulled into the underground garage below

an who specialized in digital tracing. Callum had shown him the video. The Lisbon footage.

tigator said stuck in h

eels intimate. Familiar. Like they

the momen

w

came bac

rrency and punishment like punctuation. Owen had always been the charmer. Callum, the shadow. But after the

stories of contracts rewritten, favors traded, and threats ma

eared too. Or s

il

ywhere near Lena made

uiet. Fast. No eyes. When the doors opened, the hal

uite door, bracing f

muted television casting blue shadows across her face. She looked up as he entered, and

front of h

't speak

"I saw

tomach dro

't need

ready

he whi

no

ody in one slow, frac

"He texted me. Told me to come alone. I th

closed

did he

around me. That he's g

ked away,

inally. "I thought if I kept you away fr

anymore," she said.

mart. The kind of smart that's always five steps ahead. He man

ing to be o

ed the door behind him again.

ed. "Where

e he can'

slowly.

tur

ure this i

n caught hi

st after me. He wants you. You're the o

because of his own choices. He blames me be

ay. "He said s

ha

nd out what foo

ed. "We destroy anythi

been sent," she said quietly. "I

her cheek. "Then we get ahead of it. We go publi

d. "You want to

hiding is only helping him. I think

ace. "And if the w

ss her cheekbone. "I'd rather stand in f

im-hard, fie

disappeared into t

rned to h

mber he hadn't

r end was crisp. Fema

a favor,

of line you call unless you're

scrub metadata from physical f

expen

pay an

her

tomorrow. Sen

all and stared

s were c

just sendi

ilding a

t act fast, the wor

, Lena's voice b

llu

alke

g a manila envelope. She hadn't packed

her slowly, his

were

than

ven New York.

rtains. From under

ded without

ast page-one

ng over each other's shoulders. Younge

ote scrawled in

who the camer

d the photo l

ard now. "We leave tonight. I do

nod

een but certain, a camera's red light