The car broke down three blocks from the penthouse.
Not broken down in any dramatic sense, a fault light on the dashboard, the driver pulling over on a quiet street three blocks from the penthouse, the apologetic explanation that the vehicle needed to be checked before it could continue. Outside, the rain came down like they were personally offended by something, and the street they were stopped on had a single working streetlight and no available taxis because of a concert finishing two blocks north.
Rowan called his driver for the second car. Estimated arrival: twenty-five minutes.
Elara and Rowan sat in the back of the stationary car and the distance between them was roughly eighteen inches.
Eighteen inches had never felt so loud.
For the first seven minutes, neither spoke. Elara h
