plode through her chest, she jumped to her feet from bed. The set of furniture she and Lily had hurriedly shoved

ked as she mur

oor. Lily Hart-an art student visiting from her shared loft in Hackn

ed, nodding toward the window. "

ll right." Over the side of the bed, she

the security panel. The alarm kept shrieking. Ava slammed her pal

a corporate lawyer on secondment in Frankfurt. He couldn't drop everything to fly

'm sorry, Ava. I shouldn't hav

houlders. "You're not making it worse. I ne

brother's international number. It ran

e sis. I go

keeping her tone calm. "Someone's still

private security firm in London. They'll assign an investigator to mon

ief lacing her words. "And

p each other safe. I'll sta

d the call. She looked at Lily, wh

k the locks,"

u," Ava s

oors above Blacksto

ain covered the glass like tiny jewels. He had his white shirt undone at the collar and was dressed in his typical bl

orning espresso, operated his touchscreen tablet, and even signed contracts with that dom

e said. "I have yo

folding his ar

sensor triggered. We've got CCTV stills of an unidentified individual on the fire escape. N

htened. "Any ID

ighborhood. Her sister's in the building, and her brother arranged

n said. "Kee

right arm. "Already on it. I'll have a fu

Ava felt unexpected-his obligation as her cl

rigerator's sound was the only sound in the room. Ava fell back on the cou

'm sorry you were

st her shoulder. "Families

. "Are you certain

s she cocked her head. "Not sleeping a

d wanly.

he hush, a little safe

arters, preparing to review mockups for the rollout campaign. Lily tagged along for mo

a Black-always impeccably dressed, always immaculate. Sienna gave Ava a polite nod, lip

by the projector. He clicked through the slides of Ava's proposed creatives. As the campaig

he had months ago-hungry, personal-but with a cautious respect. She'd grown into

d. "Excellent work, Ava. These concepts

politely. "

de, sketching in her notebook, and gav

val process with the advertising team." She turned to

y manner, Ava could tell she was a

. "All set here?" he asked in a low

ke it," A

safe. I've alerted the team to

you," s

unguarded, unlike the polite

elt very happy. Between serious glances at Lily's Instagram–inspi

thoughtful. "Do you wa

"No. Let's give hi

nful of sauce to her lips. "Her

fork against Lil

rdinary as shared dinner and

ted surveillance notes. The stalking threat complicated everything-his professional

outside Ava's window. Then he looked at his reflection. The

e to Ade: "Arrange non-invasive security detail

ded: "And track anything unusual a

his eyes for the f

city itself were pressing in on them both,

d Lily washed dishes side by side

ss towers, priorities were sh

defense wer

as backi