DAMIAN I didn't want to miss her, or have her sneak off to work without seeing her. Lately, she seemed to be avoiding contact with me—leaving early to work and returning late so we wouldn’t have to see each other frequently. But I would be waiting for her today. She came down the stairs a while later, hesitated on the bottom stairs when she saw me, but gave up on her hide and seek game. I gritted my teeth. If she thought she was going to leave without giving me a plausible explanation as to why she had returned home late that night, then she was mistaken. I didn’t care about her schedule but the terms of the contract had to be obeyed. She kept her eyes firmly fixed in the direction of the door. "We need to talk right now," I said in a tone of barely suppressed anger. She stopped in he

