My breath caught.
Because for one second, he wasn’t angry.
He washurt.
And suddenly, everything inside me was trembling.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to scream.
But all I could do was stare up at him in the strobe light haze—
Wearing the dress I never should’ve worn.
FeelingeverythingI swore I buried.
Noah
“You need a drink. Or two. Or twelve.”
Liam’s voice cut through the noise of the parking lot as he shoved the club doors open.
“I’m not drinking twelve of anything,” I muttered.
Adonis laughed beside him, loosening his tie and rolling his sleeves like this was a damn vacation. “We’re not here to get wasted. We’re here to remind you what fun looks like. You’ve been brooding so hard I’m pretty sure your shadow has a six-pack.”
I didn’t respond.
I didn’t want to be here.
After everything that dropped this week—the mission,her father, the realization that Elizabeth was in more danger than she even knew—blowing off steam at some packed nightclub was thelastthing on my list.
But Adonis and Liam had basically kidnapped me.
Claimed it was “team bonding.”
I hadn’t fought back hard enough.
Now here we were—sweat, neon, and bass. The club was alive with noise and heat, like the whole building had a pulse.
We pushed through the crowd and made it to the bar. Liam flagged the bartender like he’d done it a hundred times, tossing a bill down.
“Three whiskeys,” he said. “No fruity shit.”
Adonis was already scanning the dance floor, and then his whole face changed.
Softened. Brightened.
Like someone had turned the sun on inside him.
“Lillian,” he breathed.
I followed his gaze and saw her.
Red dress, wicked smile, hair pulled up in a way that screameddangerous.She hadn’t seen him yet, but he looked at her like she hung stars in his sky.
Then—
