The Cross Family
Staff moved quietly in the background, pretending not to listen the way good staff always did.
Eva sat at the island with her laptop open, hair pulled back, bruise still shadowing her jaw. Her fingers tapped a steady rhythm on the keyboard—habit, not impatience. She had been up since before sunrise, rewriting the same paragraph until it sounded like truth without being a weapon.
Alexander stood across from her, arms folded, jaw tight. He’d been on three calls already—Adrian, Marcus, a private liaison with the DA’s office. His voice had been calm on all of them. Controlled.