PART 3 For several seconds, no one moved. The photograph on my phone showed the three of us inside the back room of my flower shop. Gabriel stood beside the...
PART 2 I rose too quickly and struck my shoulder against the marble arch. The ranunculus slipped from my hand. It landed between us, dark red petals spread across the...
PART 2 “Six weeks,” Dominic repeated. The click of the lock sounded much louder than it should have. I removed my hand from his shoulder and stepped back. “What happens...
PART 2 “Exactly the man I’ve been looking for.” For several seconds, I was certain I had misunderstood her. Outside the office windows, Chicago stretched beneath a low ceiling of...
PART 2 I turned slowly. The man in the doorway was tall enough to make the frame appear too small for him. He wore a charcoal suit without a tie,...
PART 2 Commander Mercer’s words erased every sound around me. I stood slowly. “Where?” “Three miles offshore,” he replied. “Using a false identity aboard a private research vessel.” My mother...
… She smiled, and for a moment that was enough. Dinner began with the usual performance. My father carved the roast. My mother complimented Meredith’s house three separate times. Brooks...
… A file appeared on the screen. Names. Routes. Satellite imagery. Casualty projections. I read it from the back wall and saw three errors in the first ninety seconds. No...
Grant slid the top page toward me. “We have a buyer,” he said. “Cash. Quick close. No inspection delays. Given the condition of the property and the carrying costs, it’s...
… That was when my father appeared. “What are you doing with my staff?” he asked. “Your access system is contradicting itself.” He stared as if I had touched his...