THE SHADOW BETWEEN US

late each night, always with blood on his hands that no amount of expensive soap could wash away.

s hunting the people who had killed Marina Volkov. Th

o were dying

bserved, setting down a tray of aft

spent the last three days pacing my gilded cage like a cag

ut w

where I'd been watching the city move below. "About how I'm just sitting here d

" Margaret said firmly

not en

. Blackwood n

rds came out sharper than I'd in

on softened. "What

ago, I would have said freedom. Safety. A normal life where the

w.

ted. "I want to be useful for

you propose

" I met her eyes. "By remembe

about my father's final days. But I had been thinking, piecing toget

nections to the underground. He'd been a keeper of secre

dden something. Something i

tell you?" Ma

trust only one person." I smiled, the expressio

aret didn't need to know tha

u want to see him

nk y

hat had been forming in my mind for days. It was dangerous, possibly suicida

him to decide I was more

His expensive suit was immaculate, but there was something

ee me," he said

the couch, smoothing down the silk dress I'

ows rose.

who killed my father." I stepped closer, close enough t

liste

t computers, said they were too easy to hack." I paused, letting the li

es sharpene

where the files are, and yo

lutel

ria

ting from his body. "You're not leaving this building. Y

his gaze. "Because without those files, you'll never find

d them ev

're looking?" I asked softly

yes - pain, maybe, or regret

ing his chest. "Because I care about you, Adr

ip firm but not painful.

sh your hands like you're trying to scrub away sins that go deeper than skin?" I stepped closer,

elp by walking

hiding." My voice was barely a whisper. "Ple

s," he said, but his v

e stand beside you in

tions I couldn't see. When he spoke, his voice was

are the

ry. He has a private office in the basement, behind a fa

now the co

but a believable one. "He

tically see the wheels turning in his mind. Calculat

w my lead. You do exactly what I tell you, w

ree

on't try to help, you don't try to be b

ria

e, thumbs tracing my cheekbones. "Pro

romi

ded anyway, sealing our devil's bargain with

he said against my lips

ht three men with him - silent, efficient shadows who moved like they were born to v

stem?" Adrian as

"We have twenty minutes be

y close. Don't touch anything unnecess

. Because I hadn't just lied about t

There was no safe behind a false wall. And I had no

security footage would show him entering, but not leaving. And if I was right, if

hem before Adrian re

res and paintings worth more than most people's houses. Adri

fice?"

the building. My heart hammered as we descended into

was soft, deadly. "There

the dim light, his eyes loo

quietly. "T

hy are

out in a rush. "My father. He died here, in this

nge, but I felt the temperatur

lied

es

every

es

hy

my veins. "Because I knew you'd never bring me here if I told you the

t. Which made it absolutely terrifying. "You lied to me, manipulated m

ria

I do to people who

owed ha

e radiating from him like heat from a fire. "Slowly. Creativel

won't k

n't

and settling over his hea

hallenge. Adrian's expression didn't change,

ftly, "is a weakne

ven't you ki

ugh with something that might ha

hrough the storage room. We both spun toward

n with silver hair and cold eyes. He was holdi

tured and smooth. "Though I'm afraid t

thing almost like recognition in his voic

led, and it was all teeth. "Though not perceptive

gh his body was already shifting, posi

replied. "Everything you've built.

ian's voice wa

ugh I must admit, using her to lure you here was i

sages on the phone. Marina Volkov's death. The ca

manipulatin

st say, falling for Adrian so quickly was an unexpec

possible,"

tightened on the trigger. "Say goodbye

les tense, saw him preparing to throw hi

m die. Not for me. Not when I'd broug

spite his sharp intake of breath. "You do

a, do

ather actually hid. The ones that contain the names of every government official, ev

es sharpene

ell you if you l

almost tender. "You beautiful, f

them I saw something

id

id quietly. "B

e went very

th. "There never were. Elena's father was a front man, nothing more

re ly

why have you been chasing shadows for two months? Why have

" Dmitri snarled, swinging th

y what she appears to be - an innocent woman wh

hy prot

d, his voice soft and

air like a prayer, like

ction, as Dmitri processed w

peared from the shadows like ghosts, surrounding Dmitri before he could

sational as he picked up the fallen weapon, "that I w

all his confidence evapo

n said quiet

rough the storage roo

s Adrian's men began the grim work of cleanup. My ears w

gentle, his hands on my sh

omeone in front of me, this man who had admitted h

aid. "You knew

g away a tear I hadn't realized I'd shed. "But I ha

to you? By letting

st tender. "You stood between me and a gun, Elena.

t let you

him, and I breathed in the scent of violence and protection. "Yo

ria

r. "No more games. No more tests. From

at this man who had just decla

er," I

oom that smelled of death and expensive art, I

tly where

of a monster

a darkness tha