The car ride to Renata Cho's estate took twenty-three minutes, and Noa spent every one of them watching Kieran transform into something she barely recognized, all warmth gone, replaced by a coiled, methodical calm that felt far more frightening than his earlier panic had. Dmitri drove, jaw tight, eyes flicking constantly to the rearview mirror, checking for followers with the same instinctive vigilance he brought to everything.
"If she's hurt Talia," Kieran said quietly, staring straight ahead, hands flexing once against his knees before going still again, "there is no version of tonight where I walk away and let that stand. I don't care what alliance we've built with her. I don't care what it costs the business, or me, or anyone else in that building."
"We don't know she's hurt," Noa sa
