Novels by David Prior

"Who," Alexander asked again, "put their hands on you?"Thalia's first instinct was to lie, to say it was nothing, to keep some scrap of control over a night that had already taken everything else. But his eyes hadn't moved from the marks on her wrist, and something in his stillness told her a lie wouldn't survive contact with him."Drayle's men," she said. "One of them, outside my office."Something shifted in Alexander's expression — not quite anger, something colder and more controlled than that."Which one.""I don't know his name.""Describe him.""Mid-forties. Cigarette smoke. He knew my father's schedule, my office, which street I park on." Her voice was steadier than she felt. "He grabbed my wrist and told me the company was the first thing Drayle would take. Then the people."Alexander crossed the room and picked up the phone on his desk without dialing anything, just holding it, thumb resting on the button like it was taking real effort not to press it yet."Silas," he said

Thalia had her hand on the car door when a shadow moved between the parked cars behind her.She turned too late. A palm slammed onto the roof beside her head, so hard the glass rattled, and the man's body closed the distance until her back touched the door."Ms. Renner." Cigarette smoke and cheap aftershave. "Busy day. Calling clients. Begging for contracts.""I don't know who you are.""You know who I work for." He pulled the keys from her fingers as if they were his. "Your father is dragging it out. Drayle wants to know why it's delayed."Her pulse hammered in her throat. She thought of the office, of Gerald's face when he'd said "gone," and understood something that turned her stomach. Drayle's men were hunting papers that no longer existed, and she was the only one here who knew it."He'll give you what you want," she said. "Just give us time.""Time." He smiled. "Drayle has had thirty years of it."He leaned closer, his voice dropping."Tell your father the company is only the fi

The envelope on her desk was the first sign. The three cancelled contracts by lunch were the second.Thalia stared at her inbox, refreshing it like the numbers might change if she looked hard enough. They didn't. Grayson Logistics — gone. Halloway Freight — gone, no explanation, just a two-line email from a partner who wouldn't return her calls. By 2 p.m., their biggest account, the one that had kept the company afloat through two bad years, sent notice they were "reevaluating the partnership."She'd assumed the photo on her desk was a warning.This wasn't a warning. This was the collection starting.She found Gerald in his office, staring at his own screen with the particular stillness of a man watching something he'd been dreading for weeks finally arrive."You knew this was coming," she said.He didn't deny it."How bad does it get?"Gerald looked up at her, and for the first time, she saw something past guilt in his face.She saw the calculation of a man deciding how much truth he

No one moved. No one spoke first.The man with his hand still on the weapon at his belt was the first to step back — not far, just enough to put distance between himself and whoever had just walked in, like proximity alone was dangerous now.Thalia still hadn't turned around. She didn't have to. She could read the room's reaction on every face in front of her — men who'd been untouchable a second ago now looking like they'd rather be anywhere else.A voice behind her, calm in a way that made everything worse, said one word."Out."Nobody argued.The men didn't hesitate. The one still holding Gerald Renner's watch set it back down on the desk without being told to. The one who'd had his hand on Gerald's shoulder let go like it burned. Within seconds, the office that had felt like a trap was emptying out, footsteps fast against the floor, nobody looking back.Thalia finally turned.The man in the doorway wasn't tall in a way that filled a room by size. He filled it by stillness — like v

Thalia Renner counted three men in her father's office before she counted the exits.Two by the door. One behind the desk, already opening drawers that weren't his to open. Her father sat frozen in his own chair, watching a stranger go through forty years of his life like it was nothing."Touch that filing cabinet again," she said, "and I start screaming loud enough for the whole floor to hear it."The man near the door smiled and reached for her arm instead. She pulled free hard enough to stumble, hard enough that he laughed.Nobody in this room was afraid of her. That was about to change.The man behind the desk slammed a drawer shut, empty-handed, and turned to face them."Where are they," he said. "The originals. Your father knows exactly what I mean."Her father didn't answer. That silence told her more than any answer could — he wasn't confused, he wasn't scared of being wrong. He was scared of being *found out*."What do you actually want from him?" Thalia asked."Money," he sa