Alyssa stood alone in the glass-walled conference room overlooking the city, watching the lights pulse like a living organism beneath her feet. Midnight had swallowed the skyline, but sleep felt like a distant, impossible concept. Her phone lay on the table in front of her, face down, vibrating intermittently—as if it, too, were nervous.

She already knew who it was.

Davin never called twice unless he was certain the third time would break you.

She inhaled slowly, then picked it up.

“Talk,” she said, her voice flat.

His chuckle slid through the line, smooth and intimate, like a hand at the small of her back. “You always sound so brave...