He looked at the blood, then at me.
Slowly, he held out his hand.
I wrapped the towel around his palm without touching skin.
His fingers flexed.
“You saw something earlier,” he said.
I kept my eyes on the towel. “Maybe.”
“What?”
“Rain. Broken glass. A woman screaming. A bracelet.”
The air left him.
I looked up.
The mask was gone now. Not all of it. But enough.
“Celeste wore a bracelet,” he said. “Gold. Her father gave it to her when she was sixteen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“People usually say thank you after condolences.”
“I didn’t ask for them.”
“No. You never ask for anything human.”
He laughed once.
It was humorless, but it was still the closest thing to laughter I had heard from him.
“I was driving,” he said.
The confession fell quietly.
“The road was wet. A truck crossed the median. I swerved. Celeste wasn’t wearing her seat belt. I told them I was responsible because I was behind the wheel.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
His eyes lifted to mine. “The brakes failed before the truck appeared.”
My fingers stilled.
“You think someone caused the crash.”
“I know someone did.”
“Who?”
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
The entire penthouse plunged into darkness.
Emergency lighting washed the room in dim red.
Adrian moved instantly, pulling me behind him with his uninjured hand. Even through his glove, his grip was firm.
A voice crackled over the hidden speaker system.
Daniel.
“Sir, security feed just dropped. Private elevator is locked between floors. Service entrance breached.”
Adrian’s expression turned lethal.
“Location?”
“Inside residence level.”
My blood chilled.
A soft sound came from the far hallway.
Not footsteps.
Metal against metal.
Adrian pushed me toward the kitchen island. “Stay down.”
“I don’t take orders well.”
“You’ll take this one.”
Then a man stepped out of the hallway holding a gun.
He wore a maintenance uniform and a blank plastic visitor badge. His eyes flicked from Adrian to me.
“Mr. Park,” he said. “Hands where I can see them.”
Adrian did not move.
The man aimed at me.
“Now.”
Adrian lifted his hands.
A second intruder appeared behind the first.
Then a third.
My heart hammered so loudly I could barely hear the rain beginning against the glass.