•"Tomorrow night?" "Yeah. Why? Are you supposed to..." Anastasia frowned slightly. "You have another meeting tomorrow?"Théo held back a sigh of frustration and pocketed his phone. Gillaume just texted him coordinates again. He was expecting another dropped call, but the coordinates meant Gillaume was ready to meet up any minute now.Meaning, she was already in the States. In New York, maybe? The agency also had headquarters in the East Coast."I can call the...we can do the morning after. Or the day after that," Ana said when he kept hesitating. "You're gonna be busy all day tomorrow?""Yeah. I need to be back in New York tomorrow afternoon." "What?" Ana pulled a face. "You just arrived.""Gotta meet up with someone from the agency. I have to clear up my schedule before we go to Rome. Let them know I'll be unavailable." "Okay," she replied with a faint nod that indicated some uncertainty. "Booked a flight yet?""No. I just got the text. Meeting with them tomorrow evening." He had

• Veronica shut the bathroom door and let go of the cold doorknob. The drawn curtains dimmed the room to an extent, but not enough to hide her face from his scrutinizing gaze. Her legs felt like they'd regained full mobility after a moment of her just sitting motionless on the bathroom floor, so she took quiet steps towards the hotel bed. It would be dawn in a couple of hours, and neither of them seemed eager to call it a night. She forced her feet to keep moving as her eyes centered on the guy hunched over on the bed.  His dark clothing emphasized the yellowish covers. Théo's left arm was bent because he was nail biting—a habit she thought he had grown out of. Crumpled in his other hand was the small paper bag from the drugstore.  She stood still by the foot of the bed and watched, feigning calmness and apathy to obscure the fact that she was having trouble getting a word

•  "Did Tomek text you again?" "Yeah. We'll meet up sometime soon, when he's not too busy." Veronica sat closer to the table than to her date for tonight.  It wasn't exactly a date. Well, okay. They were alone, having a meal together, exactly like the other couples in the small dining area. To outsiders, they definitely looked like they were on a date. He didn't seem to care, though. Beside her, Théo reclined and pushed his empty plate away from the edge of the table. "So Dan's gonna be in the studio with you and your backup guitarist?" He drank what was left of her apple juice, having already devoured the last spoonfuls of his goopy carbonara. "We're pretty much done with Kyle's parts." Veronica nodded her head slightly. "Dan and Ed, they've got a show tonight in Brooklyn. Mini-concert of some sort," she said. "Ah... You want to go?" A

• Piazza Di Valtieri • Grand. Spacious. Bricks and stone. Freshly trimmed grass. Well-maintained. For aristocrats.As part of his preparations, he had to study the blueprint of the entire lot and villa for days—which he had already done a week ago. Théo already knew what to expect, but of course he would pretend as if this was his first time ever seeing the property. The estate's security setup was also quite impressive. Familiar with the basic rigs, he glanced at the security cameras obscured by lampposts towering above the tall, shiny white gates welcoming their vehicle and their escorts. Well, Anastasia's security escorts, to be specific.The thick iron gates ostentatiously showed who owned the entire place. "Piazza Di Valtieri"—which basically meant "The Valtieri Estate"—was etched in eye-catching golden letters in the middle. It immediately reminded him of the last time he'd been in a private property as secure and extravagant as this prime real estate. That time, he had been

•"Dammi il telefono."The heck? He hadn't even gotten past the backdoor yet. And now this prick was already itching to snoop on his phone?"Why?" Théo squinted at the guy with the slicked back hair and watchful eyes that looked as dark as his demeanor.The guy had on a leather jacket and tight black jeans. Like every other henchman in a mafia flick. What a cliché. It wasn't one of Anastasia's bodyguards. Probably her parents' head of security, or something, tasked with looking after the entire estate's security systems. "Cellulare. Per favore." The guy dared to take a step forward after glancing at his phone again.The dude's grating voice was as authoritative as much as it annoyed Théo. The goon's breath smelled like an ashtray, and his aftershave just worsened the scent. Théo gripped the phone and stared back at the guy. Of course the prick was just doing his job, and since he was the outsider here, Théo knew he had to cooperate. Otherwise he'd look like he was hiding something