garment too thick to be a jacket wrapped around her, she was disillusioned, fingertips icy as she slammed Ethan's door behind her, she turned her back on his car, on a man who would do nothing for he

stion, it was a stupid question, wh

pe, but the warning from the

e; there were unseen forces at work here, and s

garage below his building, his usual chill s

ways thinking ahead, but there was something

g at her in her slouched arms c

a slow breath.

"You should al

f what, exactly? Because someone just th

y project: You've got all this data up to October 2023. But what you don

gomery Enterprises pivot people with a veste

er of indecision. "And you've been doi

ned. "It's par

h. "Funny, nobody told me

etween them felt shrunken, crackling. "You don't n

crossed his face, but she wouldn't

ed locked on 

ce, the space around them heavy with the wor

it, his fac

this," he was sa

t. She had taken on this project in order to prove herself, to advance

nd she wasn't sure sh

in and a

office, Ethan's coded warnings, and the sense that someth

ning early and resolved to th

ff the elevator, she rea

door was sl

ped. She had locked i

door slowly, ho

rs strewn about, drawers a

spine. This wasn't 

s was not in search

sending

han, her phone s

the first ring

id, struggling to k

ne was

n a voice that gave her

n's

, his presence draining the room of oxygen. He gl

uch anythin

r head. "No. I

is assistant, who had

at floor last night. I need to

and disappeare

rubbing his jaw as h

you h

No. I was not even th

not what

ittle with something sh

her arms. "I'

 a moment, then ran a

iraling out

ng," she

r. "You have to take th

just seeking information.

t meeting his gaz

en something give way behind h

f guilt, of

 expected this

"Why do I feel like you'

h, and she could see

y it was, "Bec

ruth

ted in Ethan's private offic

rossed, leaning against his

erprises isn't

ndustry we're disrupting? It's 

our project, threa

d. "You mean

ad. "No. I mean pe

ng companies like ours behave. As so

sink in. "S

arkened. "Now?

er with something fearful, excitement,

going away

a without-funny smile. "I

anding settled over

is together now

ply and nodded. "T

d for a moment. "You

, unwavering. "S

tween them crackled, something

ould follow through, his as

the securit

e going cold again. "Let's

pulse q

er office wasn't simp

re esca

ul sense that this