Alex.
Alex towered above, eyes on her client. He didn’t spare her a glance.
A hard shove knocked Audrey off the couch. “Get away from him, Audrey,” Alex said, fury coming from his aura.
Her hands hit the tacky floor before she registered the movement. The room twirled, sound warped. At first, she thought the client pushed her. But he sat slack-jawed, dick out.
Alex had pushed her.
She scrambled upright and looked over her shoulder. The woman had slid off the killer, and he was already on his feet. Black eyes stared through the dark, a snarl aimed at Alex. Before she could warn Alex, a shadow sprang. The tattooed man grabbed him by the coat and shoved him against the wall. Mirrors trembled from the impact.
Alex didn’t flinch. Not even a little.
Did he not see those eyes?
They simply stared at each other. The look that passed between them should have been the only thing she cared about, but the drugs turned it into just another shard of panic she couldn’t yet hold.
“You shouldn’t treat her like that,” the strange man said.
The way he said those words did something to Audrey, but she couldn’t react, still frozen in shock.
Alex remained composed. “Leave,” he said. “Before I tell her everything.”
Seeing her friend was more nerve-racking than facing the killer. The killer’s presence was horrific, but Alex’s meant answers—and answers always cost more. If he were here now—in the middle ofSaraiinstead of being there when she needed him—then wherever he’d been wasn’t something he’d wanted to tell her gently. It was something he’d waited to tell her when she had no choice but to listen.
A faint smile played at the stranger’s mouth. “Careful, Alex,” he murmured, eyes glancing at Audrey. “You’re late.”
Then he slipped into the crowd.
Her insides clenched when she looked at her friend.
Alex didn’t even look confused as he watched the spot where the strange man had stood. He looked like he was arriving late to something he’d already known would happen.
Memories emerged—bright and inconvenient. Alex’s questions in prison, not about guilt, but about how things happened, what she felt, what she remembered, what didn’t make sense.
At the time, she’d thought he was building a defense.
Now, puzzled, Audrey looked for the killer. The man with disturbing eyes disappeared. She wondered if she’d hallucinated. But she could still feel his mind in the crowd.
Where was he?
Hands grabbed her arms and jerked her upright. Her back hit the wall, sparking white across her vision. She expected Erik with his greedy, grubby hands, pissed about broken rules. She was already preparing to rage at him.
Instead, soft fingers grasped her face, thumbs pressing her cheeks together and forcing her lips into a pout. Blonde hair fell over a too-familiar forehead. Blue eyes burned into hers, furious and scared and something else she’d never seen on his face.
This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.Audrey closed her eyes.
He was angrier than he’d been in the courtroom. Angrier than she’d ever seen him. In her off-balance state, a sliver of fear penetrated the haze.
She’d imagined this reunion so many times. Alex at the prison gates. Alex in daylight. Alex with answers. But never here. Not with her half-dressed and high and stretched out on a stranger’s couch.
I never wanted Alex to see this life.
That had been the plan—get clean before she found him again.
Frustration twisted his features into a snarl. He dragged her through the hallway as the music waned behind them. Questions spun through her head, tumbling over each other.
How did he track me?
