black Phantom pulled back into the
He rarely drank past a single glass, and his temples throbbed. When Nate opened the door, Lucian d
ator bank. "Sir, Ms. Quinn is pro
job," Lucian said, his voice rough with alcohol and
and hurried int
ack down at a run, his face pa
the penthouse. Every light was on now. The housekeep
empty. Stella wasn
ago, a wide pool of dark red blood had dried against the white marble. Above it,
t the edge of the rug
eathed. Then a low, grating
ed crimson stain. "To force the wedding. She think
ng horrified, before Nate qu
way from the ta
days p
h board meetings without a break, and slept zero hours. Nobody dared mention the empty desk outside
er thought I'd see our residen
erly report. "Nate. Transfer him to
ce room went
e marble now dark brown because he had forbidden Lena to touch it. His phone buzzed. It
body scrubbed her. Flights, bank cards, tra
from four days withou
A ghost called Q. If Q wiped her trail, you could flip th
now a hacker," Lu
ort laugh. "Famous
t like a live grenade. "Sir... maybe Ms. Quinn really did have an ac
pressure was spreading behind his sternum. "Send a team upst
of his private urology office, staring at the fresh lab work in hi
ng over the sheet. "Recanalization occurs in less than one in a thousan
paper didn't shake in his hand, becaus
voice. "Sir. Our people pulled the records from Mount Sinai. Five days ago,
rted in. The address on Ms. Quinn's HR file is an empty lot
ess in the center of
got the lab repor
d to love me and ob
into his skull. She hadn't been lying. She had been carrying his chil
ho had slept in his bed for thr
Lucian stopped g
en in forty-eight hours. When his hands began to tremor, he pulled open the sideboard drawer, too
, his phone
r ID read
not quite steady, and pressed it a
ker. Not soft. Not warm. Cold enough to c
ne wen
d stood up, his eyes dropping to t
ut, his voice hoars
/1/134636/coverbig.jpg?v=ced3f71a07a9f9aa4c1dc7028835d7c2&imageMogr2/format/webp)