hing I did

t. My heart was hammering against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat of terror and disbelief. The m

hadn't.

digital ghost of a future I had already lived. This time, there was no shock, n

t fight him on his terms. I would sa

for the gala and pulled out a simple pair of jeans and a dark hoodie. I w

ring his voice, alive and well, was

steady. "I need you and Mom to do s

t' s wrong? You

s waiting for you at the private airfield. A plane leaves in three hours for a secluded island

, this is insane. Wha

d, the words tasting like ash. "Your

ew me. He knew I wouldn't mak

honey. We

so potent it made me di

ng the catalyst for my o

gling artists. I parked a block away from the address the PI had given me and watched. I needed to see her

oto suggested, remarkably innocent. She wasn't a femme fatale or a calculating gold-digger. She looked like a g

-not hatred, but a strange, bitter pit

accidentally knocked loose a metal pipe. It tumbled down, end over end, h

et yelled. Time se

ave time to shout a warning. I just moved, tackling her from t

been standing seconds before, hittin

ainst the asphalt, and a sharp pain shot through it.

. She pushed herself up and looked at my arm, which was b

ly started digging in her grocery bag, pulling o

e wound. "We need to get this cleaned.

. It wasn't just her innocence. It was her purity, her instinct to care for others, even a stranger who h

illed with half-finished paintings and the smell of turpentine. It was

one light up on a nearby table. The c

gnore

gain. This time, she answ

ell

e conversation, but I watched her fac

with someone." She glanced at me, her expre

n' s, pulled up silently outside the building. A man in a suit got out

protecting her. He

plan had to work.