Those tawny eyes, unreadable as ever, the silver streak at his temple catching light from the city outside. Her husband. The man who had just—who she had just —who they had—
“Stop spiraling.” His voice was lower than usual, rougher, like something had scraped it raw.
“I’m not spiraling.”
“Your eye is twitching.”
“I don’t have a condition.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, barely perceptible, and something in Lexy’s chest cracked open to match whatever had cracked in him.
“What happens now?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer immediately. His thumb kept tracing those patterns on her hip, and she watched his face in the dim light, searching for some indication of what he was thinking, what he was feeling, whether this had changed anything or everything or nothing at all.
“Now,” he said finally, his voice low, “we figure out—”
Both of their phones rang at the same time.
The sound was jarring, obscene, two separate ringtones shattering whatever fragile thing had been building in the space between them. Lexy flinched. Leonidas’s jaw went tight, his hand stilling against her hip.
He reached for his phone first, and she watched his expression shift as he registered the name on the screen.
“Aivan.” He answered with his voice clipped and professional, all traces of the man who had just been tracing patterns on her skin vanishing in an instant. “This had better be important.”
Silence as he listened. Then his body went rigid beside her.
“When?” More silence. His free hand curled into a fist against the sheets. “How much was compromised?”
Lexy’s phone was still ringing, the sound drilling into her skull. She grabbed it, saw Aivan’s name flashing on the screen, and answered with fingers that weren’t quite steady.
“Lexy.” Aivan’s voice was tight with the kind of control that meant something had gone very wrong. “Someone tried to hack your system. The adaptive technology files. We caught it before they could extract everything, but we need to assess the damage.”
Her stomach dropped. “How bad?”
“Bad enough that I need both of you here. Monaco. Tonight.”
She looked at Leonidas. He was already looking at her, phone still pressed to his ear, his expression unreadable.
“We’ll be there,” she said.
And just like that, the world came crashing back in.
