Chapter 31: The Flower Arrangement
The penthouse felt too quiet after breakfast. The kind of quiet that presses in and makes every small sound feel loud—the hum of the fridge, the distant traffic below, the soft tick of the clock on the wall. Bella paced near the windows while I sat on the couch with my laptop open to Lydia’s secure feed. She’d already patched in the hotel’s internal camera loop. Nothing yet. Just empty hallway outside the private dining room.
Bella stopped pacing, came over, and dropped onto the couch beside me. She tucked her legs under her, leaned against my side. “How long until the meeting?”
“Forty minutes,” I said. “Marcus is in position downstairs. He’ll slip the mic into the centerpiece when the waiter turns his back. Tiny thing—looks like a button on a rose ste
