Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 13

**Rhea**The itinerary arrived before breakfast.Seven days. Las Vegas. Client meetings and a site review. No other names listed under traveling party except mine and Jakob’s.I read it again, then closed the laptop.Owen had not spoken to me since I locked him out of my room. He was careful now—too careful. When our paths crossed in the hallway he looked at me like someone testing ice, waiting to see if it would hold. He had sent messages three different times apologizing. I had ignored them. I gave him nothing. The slap still sat between us, and I was in no hurry to soften it. I was packing a small suitcase on the bed when I heard raised voices from the study.I slowed my steps in the hallway.Owen’s voice came first, tight and barely controlled.“You can’t be serious. A full week? Just the two of you?”Jakob’s reply was flat. “The client requested a lean team. I’m taking the person best prepared for the material.”“Then take me. I know the account. I’ve sat in on half those calls.

**Rhea**The knock came again, softer the second time.I pushed off the door, smoothed the red dress once, and opened it.Jakob stood in the hallway with my small black bag in his hand—the one I had left at the table when he walked me out. For a moment neither of us moved. He looked at me like he had spent most of what he had downstairs and was carefully measuring the rest.His eyes held mine. No smile. No soft edge. Just focus and the visible effort of staying on his side of the threshold.Only then did he lift the bag and hold it out.“You left this.”I took it. Our fingers didn’t touch.“Thank you.”He nodded once, but didn’t step back. The silence stretched. The gun, the way he had taken my hand in front of Caldwell, the order he had given me to go to my room—all of it sat in the small space between us.“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.“I already told you I am.”“I was making sure.”His voice was quieter now. The roughness from earlier hadn’t fully left it. He looked pas