ALEX’S POV,
Sitting in my high-rise, looking at laptop export logs while my mind sat four miles away at Emily’s vet clinic.
I dropped my phone on the mahogany desk with a sharp clack. Thirty minutes ago, I put a three-man shadow watch around her building: Marcus in the service alley, Soren across the street in a sedan with night-vision, Dante walking the sidewalk as a delivery guy.
Nothing gets through that ring.
Then my phone lit up.
Face ID unlocked it. A single message hit the screen:
“Should I kill her or lock her away? What would be the best t*****e for you? – x”
Ice water hit my chest. Anger flared behind my eyes, jaw locking tight.
X.
Xavier.
Close enough to smell the bleach in the clinic, close enough to brush past a guard without triggering thermal tripwires.
I hit the
