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He set his coffee cup down. "Go ahead."

She hesitated. "Am I allowed—” She stopped and rolled her eyes. "There I go again—stuttering."

Soren tilted his head. "Go on."

A sheepish smile touched her lips. "I was wondering if I could use your art room."

He frowned. "My what?"

"The room next to the west hallway,” she said. "I thought it was an art studio."

Soren blinked. "I've lived here for nine years, and I didn’t know that I had an art room.”

"You don't know what's in your own house?" she questioned.

"I've never opened that door,” he admitted.

Luca barked out a laugh. "You built a twelve-million-dollar estate and forgot about an entire room?"

Soren looked at him. "I use the rooms that are necessary to me, and that one was just never needed."

"You’ve had an art studio this whole time and didn’t know it?” Lily repeated.

Maria laughed into her coffee, and Lily covered her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hide her amusement.

Soren sighed. "I'll have someone unlock it, and you can use it whenever you’d like.”

"It's locked?" she asked.

"I assume so,” he said.

"You really don't know?” she asked.

"No,” he breathed.

That did it. Lily laughed outright, and the sound echoed through the kitchen, bright and unguarded. Soren hadn't realized how quiet the estate had become over the years until that moment. Her laughter filled spaces he'd forgotten existed. It suited the house far better than silence ever had. Hell, it suited him, not that he’d admit that to anyone else.

Lily thanked him, shyly kissing him in front of Luca and Maria. He was about to ask her to spend the day with him when every phone on the kitchen island buzzed at once. The laughter in the room died instantly. Soren's instincts sharpened as Luca grabbed his own phone.

The color drained from his face. "Boss."

Soren picked up his phone and found one encrypted message, with no sender, no number. There was just a single image. His pulse slowed into the dangerous calm that always came before violence. The photograph showed Lily sleeping peacefully in his guest room. Moonlight spilled across her face, and one hand was tucked beneath her cheek. The timestamp in the corner of the photo said 2:14 am.

Soren's grip tightened on his phone. That was impossible because she hadn't been in the guest room last night. She'd spent the night in his bed after her nightmare. That meant that the image wasn't from last night. Someone had been inside his estate before—watching and waiting as though studying her.

A second line appeared beneath the photograph.

We'll take her when we're ready.

The ceramic mug shattered in Soren's hand, and coffee splashed across the marble countertop and onto the floor. He barely felt the sting of broken porcelain cutting into his palm. The room fell silent, and Lily looked from Soren to Luca, her confusion quickly giving way to concern.

"What happened?" she asked.

Soren locked the screen before she could catch even a glimpse of the photograph. His expression gave away nothing. Only Luca recognized the fury simmering beneath the surface. Soren rose from his chair, keeping his voice calm.

"Luca,” he said. That was all he needed to say because Luca knew exactly what to do. It was the thing he liked most about working with him—he seemed to be able to read Soren’s mind.

"I'm on it, boss” Luca said.