The world outside the windows already awake. People jogged along the boardwalk. Early swimmers cut lines through the surf. Delivery drones zipped between towers.
I sat at the island and watched it all, fingers wrapped around a glass of water I’d poured and hadn’t drank yet.
Footsteps came down the hallway a few minutes later. I straightened automatically.
Atticus walked in gym bag slung over one shoulder. He wore a white t-shirt and grey shorts, and still somehow looked like he’d stepped out of a dynasty campaign shoot.
“There she is,” he grinned, “Malice’s newest fugitive.”
I tried to smile. “Hardly.”
“Runaway princess, then.” He dumped the bag near the wall and came around the island. “Did you sleep?”
“A little.”
He went straight to the coffee machine, fiddling with the controls like he disapproved of its default settings.
“Eat anything?”
“Not yet.”
“Madeline,” came out of him like a sigh. “You negotiated an entire river yesterday.”
“Water,” I said, lifting the glass fractionally. “Hydration.”
He pressed a pod in, watched. “That doesn’t count. You need protein. And probably sugar. And definitely someone to remind you’re not, in fact, a machine.”
“Is that your job description now?”
“It’s one of the better parts,”
He slid the coffee in front of me and leaned his elbows on the other side of the bench, studying my face.
His gaze softened. “You want to talk about it?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘eventually’ instead of a ‘never’, for my own sanity.”
A tiny smile tugged at my mouth. “Do whatever helps.”
He watched me take a sip, waited until I swallowed.
“So first order of business. You won’t believe what happened at my Villain penthouse last night.”
The words didn’t register at first. My brain stayed caught on the heat of the coffee against my palms.
My fingers tightened on the cup. “What?”
“Apparently it got raided. Some security team stormed the building after a panic alarm went off. Whole thing at three in the morning. My poor concierge is traumatised.”
The room tilted.
“Raided,” I repeated.
“Mmm.” He winced. “My staff chat pinged me seven times. I had my comms muted because, surprise, I was trying not to be dragged back into that city at one in the morning.”
“Who? Which security.”
