They left a little after ten. Victoria talked through the drive about a possible new contract and the usual industry gossip. Elena sat in the back seat and watched the city lights move across Marcus’s profile in the passenger seat. Neither of them spoke to the other. The private frequency between them had already shifted into the keyed-up silence that came after a public threat neither of them could address until the house was theirs again.

Victoria went upstairs as soon as they walked through the door, exhausted and still half in work mode. The moment her bedroom door closed, Marcus locked the study behind them and backed Elena against...