The plane touched down on a humid Brisbane afternoon. Salt from the coast mixed with hot asphalt and diesel. Austin’s black sedan waited in the small airport lot, engine purring low, windows dark against the late sun.
He stepped out, stretching, but his mind wasn’t on the heat. It was on Selene—on the fear she still carried, the way she curled into herself when she thought no one saw. On the nightmare his family had forced her into.
The drive to the apartment was quiet. Roads curved along the Brisbane River, city buildings glinting, but all Austin saw was the wreckage his parents had left behind. He parked outside the low-profile complex he’d chosen—secure, discreet, blending into the city.
He pressed the elevator button, took a deep breath. Months of protecting her, scheming for her sa
