KNOX
The scent of blood still clung to the air, faint but unmistakable. It was hers.
I rose from my seat, moving toward her with slow, deliberate steps.
Aria’s shoulders stiffened, her fingers tightening around the file she was holding. She stepped back—instinctively, unconsciously—but I didn’t stop.
She was trying to act unaffected, but she didn’t know what I could hear.
The steady rhythm of her heart had changed. And right now, it was stuttering, betraying the calm front she was trying so hard to maintain.
Her fingers tightened around the file.
She stepped back.
I didn’t stop.
Another step back.
I tilted my head. “Why are you backing away?”
“I—” She hesitated, then lifted her chin. “I’m not.”
Liar.
She was doing everything she could to put space between us, but there was now
