Eve stared at the phone when it buzzed, her first instinct suspicion, because kindness, in her world, usually came with hidden teeth.
Ryan was in the study across the hall, door half-closed. He’d been on and off calls since morning, voice low, clipped, controlled. Every now and then the cold edge came into it, the same edge that had appeared at the station when he said, We need to be careful.
Eve’s fingers hovered over the screen.
ALISSA MONROE.
Steven’s fiancée.
A woman who looked like warmth when Eve first saw her. A woman whose smile had made Eve more unsettled than hostility would have, because hostility was honest. Warmth was confusing.
Eve pressed accept.
“Hello?” she said quietly.
Alissa’s voice arrived soft and bright, careful not to startle. “Eve. Hi. It’s Alissa.”
“I kno
