Everything after that happened too fast.
Cold air rushed into the study as the terrace doors slammed wide. Security spilled past me in dark suits and clipped voices, one man nearly clipping the corner of the desk in his hurry. Damian was already outside, moving with the kind of speed that made it obvious he had stopped thinking in normal, civilized units.
He wasn’t chasing a woman anymore.
He was hunting.
“Damian!” I shouted.
He didn’t look back.
Of course he didn’t.
The image still glowed on my phone screen. The study from outside. All of us exposed under soft yellow light like animals in a glass enclosure. And in the reflection near the edge of the pane, just enough of a mouth to ruin everything.
Celeste.
My mother had gone rigid beside the sofa, one hand gripping the chair so h
