Lucas’s POV
“What are you doing here?”
Her voice was low, cold. Sharp enough to cut glass. No warmth, no softness. Nothing of the woman who’d whispered my name in the dark last night, fingers tangled in my hair.
I blinked, confusion hitting first. “Avela… you had me worried sick. I’ve been calling you all day. You wouldn’t pick up, wouldn’t answer texts, nothing. I went to your office, you weren’t there. I thought—” My throat closed up just remembering the panic. “I thought something happened to you.”
She laughed. A short, bitter sound that punched me in the chest.
“Why should I pick up?” she asked, stepping inside and letting the door fall shut behind her with a finality that made my stomach drop. “So you can tell me more lies?”
The words slammed into me like a fist.
“What are yo
