Mira stepped out of the shower, glad that Carter and Layla had volunteered themselves to drive the chemical samples into Madison Alder’s lab, Krylotech Industries in Seattle. The rest of the team was getting antsy, but Mira had done a decent job of updating and motivating them by saying the results of the lab would give One World a strong advantage of not only shutting down the Starlight Energy Pipeline in Bellevue, but perhaps put Montgomery’s company out of business entirely. In the meantime, she delegated specific tasks to each member. Ronnie and Samantha were heading over to the site to take pictures of the construction workers should they engage in any activity. Jess and Malcom were drawing up an amendment to the class-action motion their attorney would ultimately file.And Dahlia and Molly were focusing on making arrangements for One World’s next project, exposing a water treatment facility in Nevada, which was suspected of adding unregulated quantities of fluoride to public dri

When he lifted up, their eyes met and he brushed her dark hair off her forehead. After a moment, he kissed her, then he eased out of her, rolling onto his back.Mira curled into him, asking, “What really happened at that party?” She felt Nate tense beside her, and he let out a stuttering breath.“I really don’t know. One minute I was sipping a glass of champagne and talking to the dean of medicine from Mount Sinai, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital. My dad says it was a psychotic break. I had been under a lot of stress.”Mira didn’t feel it was her place to comment, but she didn’t see how a psychotic break could cause him to act bizarrely with no recollection of his behavior, not to mention Nate didn’t strike her as the sort to have a mental breakdown in the first place.She was jarred from contemplation when her cell began buzzing on the nightstand. Reaching over Nate for it, she saw Carter’s name flashing across the screen. “It is one of my guys,” she said.

“Blind?” Mira couldn’t fathom the magnitude of what she was hearing, and yet it resonated the deep sense of dread that had been forming in the pit of her stomach. “Permanently?”Nate’s hand felt warm and strong as he laced his fingers with hers, holding her firmly. It seemed to be his way of responding, as though words would be too small, insignificant, and unable to cut to the core of this life-changing event that no one could’ve seen coming.“It looks that way,” he said finally, but his timber waned, giving Mira an indication that he’d directed his response to her doctor, who had yet to address the prognosis.“We are going to have to take it day by day, Mira,” he said finally, nearing the foot of her hospital bed, while Layla fidgeted beside Carter on the other side of her bed. “The chemicals scalded your retinas in both eyes.We had the best doctors working, but our primary concern was preventing chemical burns across your skin, which would have killed you. After flushing your eyes

As he rolled her over the red carpet and into the air conditioned lobby of the Escala, Mira noticed that because she had been stripped of the ability to see, her other senses were kicking into high gear. The specific scent of the lobby, the chilled marble floors slick with lemon-fresh cleaner, struck her first, then the particular tinge of AC mingling with the distinct scent of lilacs filled her nose. The shape of Nate’s hand, which remained on her shoulder as he rolled her to the elevator banks, held new meaning.She now understood his precise dimensions the length of his fingers, the width of his palm. And when the elevator arrived with a ding, the sound was sharp and hit her ears in a way she’d never noticed for all her years of having perfect eyesight.After he rolled her inside, turned her around, and the doors whooshed closed, the way in which the air pressure changed from that one simple action was so apparent that it made her feel strangely alive, as did rising swiftly to the

Before she could bump into the ottoman, he rushed to her side and took her arm, guiding her away from the furniture and out the door.“Carter’s standing in the middle of the room,” he said quietly, and Carter’s eyes snapped to him. “So where can we work?” asked Carter.“Where’s my laptop?” asked Mira.At a loss, Nate said, “I can go out for a few hours and let you set up in my study.”“Mira,” said Carter, “I have your laptop. Layla should be here soon, I gave her the address.”As if hell bent on proving Nate’s uselessness, Carter took Mira by the arm then glared at Nate expectantly.“Uh, right this way,” he said, leading them through the suite and down the hall where his study was situated across the hallway from his entertainment den.As soon as he got to his desk, Nate collected the documents that were strewn across it and tucked them into a filing cabinet, then closed a number of spreadsheets and Web pages on his computer. He switched out of his user and into the guest one, and sa