“You don’t order fries with pizza.”
He shrugged, unapologetic. “No, you don’t. I do. And you steal them anyway.”
Heat crept up my neck. “That was?—”
“Every time.” He shoved the carton toward me. “Don’t pretend you won’t.”
I stole one on principle. “Old habits.”
His smirk deepened, but he didn’t push.
We ate in that same easy rhythm, familiar enough to hurt. Until I told him about the meeting. About the liaison, the “correction,” Elise’s reaction, and finally, the call.
He froze mid-reach, tension bleeding into the air when I said it. “Langley?”
“Mr. Langley,” I clarified. “That’s how she said it. No first name.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not a coincidence.”
My pulse stumbled. “You think Darren’s not dead?”
The pizza crust bent in my hand. For a second the rooftop blurred with the possibility of it as I was hurdled back to the night Mom and I’d left town in a hurry.
I’d spotted Mom first—dark hair spilling down her back. Then my eyes caught the prone man on the ground. Limbs bent wrong. Blood spreading. My breath snagged, a scream clawing up my throat.
Mom spun, eyes locking on mine. In two strides, her hand was tight over my mouth. “Not a sound,” she hissed. “We have to move.”
My pulse pounded so loud it drowned the distant hum of traffic. My knees trembled, barely holding me up.
Because I knew who it was—Darren. The guy Mom had been dating. The VP at King Enterprises. The man whose lifeless eyes—eyes I’d seen crinkle in laughter just weeks ago—stared past us into nothing.
“Mila.” My name carried a sharp panic that cut through the fog in my head. I tore my gaze from Darren’s face and locked on hers.
“Go. Now. Get in your car and move. I’ll meet you at the house.”
I ran. Breath scraping, hands white-knuckled on the wheel, headlights blurring into static.
When I skidded into the driveway, she was right behind me. Her car door shut. The front door was open before I’d even killed the engine.
“Pack,” she snapped. “Everything. Just move.”
“What? No. We need to call the cops?—”
“No cops.” Her voice cracked like a whip.
“But we didn’t do anything?—”
Her gray-green eyes locked on mine. “It will come back to us. The people who did this—they’ll put it on us. Theywillmake sure we take the fall.”
I blinked, pulling myself back from that night where we’d seen more than we should’ve. The cool air bit into my lungs. Luke was watching me, steady, silent.
“There was a body,” I whispered. “I saw it. My mom said not to say anything. We left that night. The blood…” My throat closed. “I don’t see how he could’ve survived that.”
Luke didn’t flinch. His voice was quiet, grounded. “I believe you. But I’m still going to find out for sure.”
I searched his face. “How?”
“I’ve got a PI. Not one of my father’s. He’s clean. I used him when you disappeared.”
