ena

up th

und and silent as a sworn vendetta. T

r. The ghost of its sweetness had been scraped away, leaving nothing but a

Reaching up, I pulled my black canvas go-bag from the top she

wing afternoon that the pr

ning his dark silk tie. A rare, tense shadow of g

He swallowed, the granular friction of his voc

his pocket and tossed them onto the glass coffee table. They lande

of armored SUV. Top of the line,"

keys, making no

d, unbuttoning his cuffs with casual precision. "S

d burner phone and stepped

he bright screen toward me. "S

n. It was not a picture of the

's seat, beaming, her blonde

id of an open photo gallery

to the next photo. "She used my secure device to tak

and plucked the heavy phone fr

n to s

selfies of Elena. There were exact

ugh my limbs, making my hands feel

aranoid about operational security. There were no photos of

no trace of it would ever exist, claiming it

se, I backed out of the gallery and t

ed under the single, cryptic initial E. It was a secure alias, but the

ocked me in glaring white te

t seemed to deaden the air in the room. His

Serena?" he asked. His tone was laced with dark hum

sage notification dropped down.

me. You always play favorites with her.

all interest in the toxi

to him. My hand was perfe

e screen. A faint, exasper

d in quick, pra

nds are tied up in the port dea

et. He rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze dro

ce shifting seamlessly back into the cold, authoritative tone of the Boss. "It

had reminded him to buy it in the first place. I looked at the keys on the glass table, still lying where he had tossed them, and I di