INICIAR SESIÓNMELANIE“Would you be my date to Melanie’s father’s election kickoff party?”His words echoed in my ears like a bad punchline.I stared at Silvio, completely frozen. The question made zero sense. What exactly did he want from Eva? The whole ‘I just like her’ line was complete bullshit. A man like Silvio could snap his fingers and have a room full of stunning women begging for his attention. So why was he zeroing in on my best friend like she was some rare prize?My phone still lay face down on the cold tiles where it had fallen. My heart slammed against my ribs as I bent to pick it up, but Silvio’s shadow moved faster than I could blink. His long fingers snatched the device right from under my nose.My heart was literally in my mouth. Different nightmare scenarios flashed through my mind at lightning speed. What if he turned the screen and the first thing he saw was his own face, the photo I had just secretly taken? How the hell was I supposed to explain that? I would definitely not
MELANIEImmediately leaving Gavin’s office, I rushed to my car, my thumb scrolling my phone, hovering on the contact of the only person who could tell me what the hell was going on.His line rang till it went into voicemail.“Shit.” I got into the car, slammed the door, and dialed again, gripping the steering wheel tightly. This time, he picked up, and his voice came through. “To what do I owe this surprising call?”“Where is Eva?” I demanded him, my voice cold. All the fear I usually felt around him went out the window in that instant.Silvio chuckled softly. “Hello to you too, Melanie. You sound like you’re in quite the mood this morning.”My knuckles turned white as I gripped my phone. “I need to know if you have Eva,” I choked out, then forced myself to add, “Please.”Screaming at him wouldn’t get her back. I had to play this smart.“That doesn’t sound very nice, Mel,” he said, clearly entertained. “It seems you think I… kidnapped your friend.”“You threatened me yesterday. What e
GAVINI pushed out of my chair so fast it made a loud noise against the floor, circling the desk in three long strides until I was standing over Melanie, bracing my hands on the armrests of her chair and boxing her in.“Talk to me, Mel,” I said, my voice sounding urgent even to my ears. “What exactly is going on?”She seemed lost in her thoughts, her eyes drifting past my shoulder, unseeing, as a deep crease formed between her eyebrows.“I don’t really know,” she murmured, forcing herself up and slipping out of the cage of my arms. “But I’m going to find out.”She grabbed her bag from the table and made a beeline for the door. I lunged forward, my fingers wrapping around her arm.“Come on, talk to me. You know I can help.”Her face hardened instantly. “I will handle it, Gavin.” She wrenched her arm free from my grasp. “And I’ll get you your picture. Since that’s all you care about anyway.”She slammed the office door behind her with enough force that the windows rattled.Damn it. I st
MELANIEThe second Gavin mentioned Cassandra was history, my heart did a full victory lap inside my chest… until I saw his face. The celebratory drumbeat in my chest came to a forced halt. Something was seriously off.He looked pointedly at me. For a split second, guilt flashed across his face before he quickly masked it, his expression turning blank and unreadable, the way he always wore it like an armor.Something was definitely up.His Adam’s apple bobbed as he leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “I need your help with something.”I narrowed my eyes, studying the sudden tension in his jaw and the way his fingers gripped the edge of the table too tightly. “Help with what?” I asked slowly.Why was he acting as if he needed me to bury a body?I forced a smirk, trying to lighten the mood. “Are you in some kind of trouble and you need Agent Melanie on the case?” I laughed at my own dry joke, waiting for him to at least crack a smile.But he didn’t. His face remained completely stoic.H
GAVINFuck! Director Flint.I left the office without looking back at Melanie, my grip crushing the phone as it kept ringing. I felt like the biggest asshole alive for leaving her spread out on my desk, with her dress hiked up and frustration evident on her face.Shutting the door behind me, I swiped the screen and answered.“Director Flint.”“Thorne, where the hell have you been?” His voice was sharp enough to cut glass.I cleared my throat, forcing the lie out smoothly. “Sorry, Director. I stepped away for a moment.”“Forty-eight hours, Thorne,” he snapped. “The clock is ticking down to the event. What do you have for me?”“I’m close to getting a full ID on one of the Rossis. I already have his name.”“You have a name? Good. Secure the rest of his identity before Saturday. We cannot afford to walk into that event blind.”“Yes, sir.”“Excellent work, Thorne.”The line went dead.I stared down at the dark screen of my phone, letting out a rough breath. My reflection in the glass looke
MELANIEI dialed Eva’s number on the drive to school, hoping she’d cooled off. It rang endlessly before going straight to voicemail.Great. She was still mad.I tossed the phone back to the passenger seat and drummed my long press-on nails against the steering wheel. Without Eva to help me unpack the bombshell about my dad and Cassandra, I was going to drive myself crazy overanalyzing everything, and that annoying image of him practically carrying her up the stairs like some fragile princess wouldn’t leave me alone.Was there trouble in paradise with Gavin? Had they finally broken up?The traffic light ahead turned red. I eased on the brakes, catching my reflection in the rearview mirror. My cheeks were flushed pink, and a stupid, uncontrollable smile was splitting my face.I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my palms hard against my cheeks, trying to force the grin down.Geez, Melanie, can you be any more pathetic?Then my phone buzzed. I lunged for it, nearly dropping it on the car
GAVIN“Who was that on the phone?” Joe pried, his ears practically pricking up and his eyes following my phone screen as I shoved my cell into my pocket, shutting my eyes for a few seconds, trying to get my breathing under control and hoping the hard-on Melanie had just given me wasn’t too obvious
MELANIESilvio?I sat up so fast the room spun, all thoughts of being horny vanishing in a heartbeat as a chilling wave of adrenaline shot straight into my veins.How did he get my number? No, scratch that… Why was he calling me in the middle of the night?“Melanie?” he repeated my name.“Hello, Si
MELANIEThe drive back to Eva’s house was filled with total silence. It had been fifteen minutes of suffocating tension between us, with the only sound in the car coming from the low hum of the engine and the occasional tap of my heel nervously hitting the floor mat. Eva sat in the passenger seat
GAVINI tried to steady my breathing, forcing myself to look calm so she wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. Moving my hands to her shoulder, I gripped her a bit more firmly than usual. “Melanie, do you mean you came in here with one of the members of the Rossi family?”“Jeez, Gavin,” sh







