“So you’re just not gonna say anything about last night?”

~$~

The lobby feels colder than it should.

Maybe it’s the marble floors or the glass walls. Or maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t slept and my body’s still humming from everything that almost happened—and everything that didn’t.

Reo’s standing by the front desk, phone to his ear, barking low instructions to someone from his legal team. His voice is sharp, clipped, and composed. But his eyes flick toward me every few seconds like he’s checking to make sure I haven’t vanished.

I haven’t. I’m still here. Still pretending.

The valet wheels in the black sedan just as the...