The black SUV vanished around the corner.
Alina stood frozen outside the Thorne building, her breath visible in the cold air, the echo of footsteps behind her now gone. Nicholas’s voice on the phone was tight with fury.
“Inside. Now.”
She obeyed.
He was waiting at the elevator by the time she reached the 45th floor, jaw clenched, tie loosened like he’d been pacing.
“They followed you.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t call me.”
“I didn’t panic.”
He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest.
“Feel that?” he whispered. “That’s what panic looks like now. That’s you.”
She blinked.
But didn’t step back.
Instead, she leaned in, kissed him slow.
“I’m not afraid of ghosts, Nicholas.”
“You should be.”
He pulled her into the office and locked the door.
The desk hit her back.
Hard.
He didn
