Lena's POV
Damian left at seven.
He told me he had a meeting — didn't say with whom, didn't say where. But I'd seen the message on his phone screen before he'd pocketed it, had registered the name Marcus Hale and the four words beneath it with the particular clarity that comes from paying close attention to things people think you haven't noticed.
He said: "Stay inside tonight. All doors locked. Reeves is on the ground floor."
I said: "Be careful."
He looked at me when I said it — a brief, unguarded look, the kind that arrived before the composure could catch up.
Then he left.
I listened to the car move down the drive and through the gate and into the city, and then I went to the library and tried to read and failed comprehensively.
Mara found me there an hour later.
She came in w
