“Oh no. Cleo,” she whispered.
The cat was trembling.
Norah sank to her knees, reaching out with a shaking hand until Cleo crept forward, body low, tail tucked. She scooped her up, holding her against her chest. Cleo clung to her like she was trying not to fall, nails catching the delicate silk of her dress.
The fear hit then—fast and overwhelming. Not the abstract fear of data anomalies or shadow organizations. Not the intellectual fear she’d lived with for weeks.
Someone had been inside her home.
Someone had rummaged through her life and scared her cat enough to make her hide.
And suddenly the almost-kiss with Marshall felt like it had happened on another planet. A planet where things like romance and longing and slipping into old patterns were possible.
Not here. Not in this apartment where someone had torn her world apart and closed the door behind them like it was nothing.
Her vision blurred.
Her pulse thudded unevenly.
Her mind raced—wedding, gala, Marshall’s hands on her waist, thenthis—like her life was ricocheting between two extremes she couldn’t control.
She grabbed her phone with trembling fingers.
There was only one number she could call.
He picked up after half a ring.
“Norah.” His voice was low, sharp, already moving — like he’d stood up the second he saw her name. “What’s wrong?”
She tried to speak. Nothing came out.
He inhaled sharply on the line. “Norah? Talk to me, sweetheart.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. The endearment cut straight through her.
“My house,” she managed. “It’s—Someone was here.”
A beat of silence.
“I’m on my way. Are you sure they are gone?”
“Marshall—”
“Don’t argue,” he said, firm but gentler than she’d ever heard him. “Are they gone?”
“There’s no one here,” she said, pressing her eyes closed.
“Tell me what happened.” His voice dropped into another register—quiet, lethal, focused.
“It’s wrecked. Everything is—” Her voice broke. She sucked in air. “Cleo was hiding. They tore the place apart. Marshall...someone went through everything.”
“Okay. I’ve got you. Stay where you are. Don’t touch anything else. Keep your back to a wall, keep eyes on the door, stay on the phone with me.”
Her breath shook. “They only took my notebook.”
Another razor-thin pause. “Okay. I’m only fifteen minutes out. Keep talking to me.”
Her knees threatened to give. She pressed her shoulder into the wall. How was he so close already?
