2026-10-26 16:29:05
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Chapter 62
The call came in just after midnight, Mera’s voice clipped and urgent through the phone. “Fire. Riverside district, an apartment block, six stories, fully engulfed. Fire department’s twelve minutes out, and there are people still inside.”Rhys was already moving before she finished the sentence.He arrived in four minutes flat, tires screeching against wet pavement, the building ahead already wreathed in orange light, smoke pouring from shattered windows on the upper floors. A crowd had gathered on the street, faces lit by the flames, someone sobbing into a stranger’s shoulder, a woman screaming a name toward the fourth floor that nobody inside could possibly hear anymore.“My daughter.” The woman grabbed Rhys’s arm the second he stepped out of the car, desperation making her grip iron-tight. “She’s up there, fourth floor, she’s only six, please, somebody has to—”“Which window.”“The one with the blue curtains. Please.”Rhys didn’t waste time explaining what he was about to do. He cr
Chapter 61
Anna sat in the back of her father’s car long after the driver had pulled away from the Halverson tower, the city lights sliding past the window in long, blurred streaks she wasn’t really watching.She kept replaying it. Rachel’s steady hands closing around the poisoned glass. The careful way she’d sniffed the rim, tested it, confirmed what should have killed any trust Anna had left in the stranger Alisha had painted as a threat to destroy. Instead, watching her work with that same quiet precision all night, something far more complicated had settled into Anna’s chest.She pulled out her phone and stared at the contact she’d saved two days ago, the cousin’s friend who handled problems quietly, who asked very few questions about why.Her thumb hovered over the call button the way it had before, except this time the hesitation lasted considerably longer.She thought about the man’s voice on the other end when she’d finally called him, flat and businesslike, discussing an injury like it
Chapter 60
The house on Larkspur was dark except for a single lamp burning in the living room when Rhys finally arrived, well past midnight, the photograph still folded inside his jacket like something radioactive.His grandfather sat exactly where he’d been sitting the first night they’d spoken, hands folded in his lap, as though he’d simply been waiting there the entire time Rhys had been gone.“You found something.” The old man said, before Rhys had even crossed the threshold.“A woman at the party tonight. She poisoned Anna, months ago, slowly, and tried to finish the job tonight.” Rhys pulled the photograph from his jacket and set it on the coffee table between them, harder than he intended, the sound sharp in the quiet room. “She left this behind. Said you were the reason any of this started. Said I should ask you what you did to deserve eight months of silence.”His grandfather’s gaze dropped to the photograph, and something in his face shifted, old grief surfacing fast and unguarded befo
Chapter 59
Security footage from the kitchen corridor took less than four minutes to pull up, Rachel crouched over a laptop borrowed from the events staff while Rhys watched over her shoulder, Anna pressed close beside him, arms still wrapped tight around herself.“There.” Rachel froze the frame. A woman in black catering uniform, face angled carefully away from the camera at every turn, moving with the deliberate economy of someone who’d mapped the building’s blind spots well before tonight. “She knew exactly where the cameras were. That’s not luck. That’s preparation.”“Can you track her now?” Rhys asked.“Working on it.” Rachel’s fingers moved fast across the keys, pulling up feed after feed, the woman’s figure flickering briefly through frame after frame before vanishing again into some gap in the coverage. “She’s heading toward the east stairwell. Service exit.”“Then that’s where we’re going.”Anna caught his arm before he could move. “I’m coming with you.”“Anna—”“Someone poisoned me for
Chapter 58
Rachel kept her position near the bar, champagne flute in hand, untouched, her eyes tracking the room with the patient, methodical sweep of someone who’d spent a career learning to watch crowds without looking like she was watching anything at all.“Anything?” Rhys murmured, appearing beside her, close enough that the conversation could pass for flirtation to anyone glancing their way.“Three servers circulating near the east wing, two I don’t recognize from the staffing list Adam’s people gave me.” Rachel kept her gaze on the crowd, lips barely moving. “One of them’s been hovering near Anna for the last ten minutes, refilling a glass she hasn’t actually finished yet.”Rhys’s jaw tightened. “Where is she now?”“By the windows. Still alone, still avoiding you like you’re contagious.”He scanned the room until he found her, standing near the same tall glass panes she’d retreated to earlier, a fresh flute of champagne in hand that he was fairly certain hadn’t been there two minutes ago.
Chapter 57
Derrick shut the car door on Alisha’s silence and turned back toward the entrance, jaw tight, something hot and reckless building behind his ribs that hadn’t fully found its shape yet. “You.” He caught the arm of a passing guest, a young man he vaguely recognized from some investment dinner years ago, voice sharper than he intended. “What exactly happened here?” “Your date insulted the new owner.” The man said, already distracted, eyes still on his phone, replaying the footage he’d apparently captured. “He didn’t even touch her himself. His people handled it. Pretty brutal, honestly. I’ve never seen Elder Mera lose her composure like that.” “Elder Mera.” Derrick repeated. “What is she, exactly? His assistant?” “Nobody really knows.” The man shrugged. “She showed up out of nowhere a few months ago, apparently. Some people are saying she’s close to him. Very close.” Something ugly clicked into place behind Derrick’s eyes, a theory forming fast and convenient, the kind of story
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