I don’t do things without reason. Every action serves a purpose, advances a goal, eliminates a threat or secures an asset.
So what is Janice?
She reaches the doorway, pauses, glances back. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re as indifferent as you pretend to be.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
She leaves before I can answer.
I stand alone in the gutted space, surrounded by the bones of something that used to matter to someone, and realize I’ve made a mistake.
I should have let Patterson have her. Should have looked away, let the city teach her the same lesson it teaches everyone eventually. Instead, I’d intervened. Had drawn attention to her. Had made her visible not just to myself, but to anyone watching me.
People are always watching me.
Mitchell appears in the doorway, tablet in hand. “Sir? The inspector is ready for your signature.”
“Give me a minute.”
“Of course.”
Alone again, I pull out my phone and open a message to Felix.
Background check on Janice Woods. Carmichael’s consulting firm. I want to know everything.
The response comes thirty seconds later.
Already done. I’ll send the file tonight.
Chapter Three - Janice
The text comes three days after the site visit.
I’m sitting in my shoebox apartment, trying to make sense of zoning regulations that read like they were deliberately written to be incomprehensible, when my phone buzzes against the desk.
Unknown number.
Dinner tonight. I’ll send a car at seven.
There’s no signature or name, only the assumption that I’ll know who it is and that I’ll say yes.
Dimitri Rudenko is dangerous in ways I’m only just beginning to understand—powerful, connected, the kind of man who rearranges the world to suit himself and expects everyone else to fall in line.
I type back before I can stop myself.
Who is this?
The response is immediate.
You know who this is.
My heart kicks against my ribs. I stare at the screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard. Every rational part of my brain is screaming at me to refuse. To make an excuse. To remember that men like him don’t invite girls like me to dinner without expecting something in return.
Why?
Three dots appear, disappear, appear again.
