“Forget it. I don’t need any one’s pity.” We stared at each other. Two team mates. Two strangers. I exhaled sharply and turned away. “Good luck,” I muttered. “You’re the one stuck cleaning up the mess now.”
Then I kept walking. Out through the glass doors. Past reception. Into the cool Oxfordshire air.
My Obsidian road car sat waiting like a predator — sleek, matte black, the badge catching the late morning sunlight like a threat. I climbed in, slammed the door, and started the engine.
The hum of power should’ve been comforting.
It wasn’t.
I didn’t set the satnav. I didn’t need directions. I didn’t even think. I just drove.
Motorway signs blurred past. My fingers curled around the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping me from flying apart.
What the hell was I doing?
The car responded to every flick of my wrist, every twitch of my foot. The precision was familiar. Controlled. Mechanical.
Unlike everything else in my life right now.
By the time the skyline of London rose ahead of me, my hands were stiff. My jaw ached from clenching. The buzz of my phone on the passenger seat went unanswered — team comms, media requests, probably Mac.
They could all wait.
I had one thing left to face.
And she deserved to see my face when I did.
Aleksandr Volkov – Elena’s Flat, Islington, Tuesday Evening
She stopped in front of me, suitcase wheels scraping to a halt on the hallway carpet.
We stared at each other.
Her hair was tied up messily. Her face drawn with travel. Eyes ringed with shadows I’d helped put there.
The most devastating thing I’d ever seen.
“Hi,” I said.
She crossed her arms. “What are you doing here?”
I stood slowly. My back ached from sitting on the floor, but I didn’t care. “Waiting for you.”
“I got that part,” she said tightly. “Why?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. The words were a mess in my throat.
“I read the article,” I said finally. “Twice.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“And I had a lot of things to say to Ross first.”
Her eyes flickered, searching mine. “So… you came here straight from Obsidian?”
I nodded once.
Her voice softened. “How did you even find me?”
