LOGINNerissa's POVMarcus arrived within twenty minutes, jacket half zipped, like he'd pulled it on in the car on the way over."Tell me everything," he said, and Priya walked him through it fast, the personnel file, the payment, the six years of fabricated history sitting behind Dario's name.Marcus's face didn't change much, but his hands curled into fists at his sides as he listened."He's on shift right now," he said, once Priya finished. "East gate, alone until four.""We need him contained," I said. "Quietly. Before he has any idea we know.""Agreed." Marcus pulled out his phone, already dialing. "I'll bring three men down with me. We approach it like a normal shift change, nothing that spooks him early. Once we're close enough, we take him without giving him room for anything.""You're sure three is enough.""Three is enough to contain one man." Marcus met my eyes. Lysander stood near the window, arms crossed, jaw tight. "I'm coming down there.""No," Marcus and I said it at the sa
Nerissa's POVLucien stepped out to check on the twins, leaving me alone with Lysander.Neither of us said anything for a moment. The study felt smaller with just the two of us in it, quieter, the tea gone cold in both our mugs. Outside, the security lights along the drive cast long shadows across the window, the only movement in an otherwise still house."You should go home," I said. "It's late.""I know."He didn't move. He sat there instead, forearms braced on his knees, looking at me in a way that made the room feel smaller than it actually was."Lysander.""I know I should go. I'm still sitting here." He looked up, something tired and honest in his face that he usually kept hidden better than this. "I don't like the idea of leaving you alone with everything he said tonight still sitting in your head.""I'm not alone. My husband is here.""That's not what I meant, and you know it."I did know it. That was the problem."You can't keep doing this," I said quietly."Doing what.""Loo
Lysander's POVLucien called at nine thirty, voice clipped in a way that told me something had already gone wrong before he said a single word about it."Rousset called Nerissa directly tonight."I sat up so fast I nearly knocked my coffee off the counter. "What?""His own voice. No proxy, no fake lawyer, no message relayed through someone else. He called her himself, told her exactly how much he knows, and made it very clear he's not worried about either of you.""Is she okay?""She's angry. Scared, though she'd never say that word out loud to you or me." Lucien exhaled slow. "He mentioned you specifically. The contracts, the case files. He wants her to know exactly why he's coming after your company."Something cold settled in my chest. "Because of me.""Because you handed her a shortcut through years of careful work he'd rather nobody ever found. Yes. Because of you, partly." Lucien didn't soften it, and I respected him more for not trying. "I'm not calling to blame you. I'm callin
Nerissa's POVMy phone rang just after nine, a number I didn't recognize.I almost let it go to voicemail. Something made me pick up instead."Ms. Vane." The voice was calm, cultured. "I thought it was time we spoke directly."I went very still. Across the desk, Lucien looked up sharply at whatever had shifted in my face."Rousset.""You've been busy," he said, almost pleasant about it. "Digging through my accounts, handing old case files to lawyers, calling contacts I'd have preferred stayed quiet. I thought it only fair to return the attention.""How did you get this number.""I make it my business to know how to reach people who've become interesting to me. You should be flattered. I don't extend the courtesy often."I put the call on speaker, silent, so Lucien could hear every word without me having to repeat it later."Say what you called to say.""Straight to business. I respect that." A faint sound, like ice shifting in a glass. "You're circling something that took me twenty ye
Lysander's POVDesmond called before I'd even finished my coffee."We have a problem.""What kind.""The kind where three of our shipping contracts got cancelled overnight, all citing the same vague clause about 'unforeseen reliability concerns.'" Papers shuffled fast on his end. "Two of them were with partners we've worked with for over a decade. This isn't a coincidence, Lysander."I sat up straighter. "Rousset.""I can't prove that yet. But the timing's hard to ignore, given you just handed Rousseau your father's old case files on tracing exactly this kind of network."My stomach tightened. "He knows I'm helping.""If this is him, then yes, he knows. And he's telling you he doesn't like it."I hung up and called Rousseau immediately, pacing my kitchen while it rang."Three contracts," I said, the second he picked up. "Cancelled overnight, no real explanation. Desmond thinks it's Rousset sending a message."Rousseau was quiet a moment. "That would track. Priya flagged unusual accoun
Nerissa's POV Saturday mornings were supposed to be easy. Pancakes, cartoons, Nicole narrating her own breakfast like it was a cooking show nobody had asked her to host. "And now we add the syrup," she announced to an invisible camera, drowning her plate in it. "Lots and lots of syrup, because Mommy's not watching closely enough to stop me." "I'm watching." "Not closely enough." Nicholas ate his in silence, more interested in the book propped against the juice carton than anything happening around him. Lucien came down halfway through, kissed the top of Nicole's head, and poured himself coffee before sitting across from me. "Sleep okay?" he asked. "Better than the last few weeks." "That's a low bar." "I'll take it anyway." Nicole set her fork down with the particular gravity of a five year old about to say something she'd clearly been sitting on for a while. "Is Lysander coming today?" The kitchen went quiet enough that I heard Nicholas actually look up from h







