will help you find out what options the testing authority provides after an emergency.
I’ll cover reasonable expenses while you prepare for the next sitting, if you accept.
No strings attached.”
“I don’t want to owe you anything.”
“Then put the terms in writing,” Adrien replied.
“You want to become a lawyer.
Start by insisting on a contract.”
Maya almost smiled despite herself.
But before she could answer, Adrien’s security chief entered the room with a phone in his hand.
“Sir, we have a problem.”
He showed Adrien a message from an unknown number.
THE GIRL WHO SAVED YOUR SISTER SHOULD HAVE KEPT RUNNING.
Maya read it over Adrien’s shoulder.
The blood drained from her face.
She had sacrificed her exam to save a stranger, and now somebody knew who she was and wanted her to regret it.
Adrien’s expression turned cold enough to silence the room.
“Increase security at the hospital,” he ordered.
“Find the sender, preserve the message, and notify the authorities.
Nobody approaches my sister or Maya without being identified.”
Maya looked at him.
“Why would they come after me? I don’t know anything.”
“You saved the one person they wanted silenced,” he said.
“That may be enough.”
She glanced at Lily, who was trembling beneath the hospital blanket.
She thought of her little apartment, the eviction notice, and the examination she had lost.
She had wanted a quiet life in which she could defend people who could not defend themselves.
Perhaps that life was not as far away as it seemed.
“I’m not going to run,” Maya said.
“But I’m not going to help you threaten people or settle scores, either.
If someone tried to murder Lily, we do this with evidence.”
Adrien held her gaze for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“Agreed.”
Outside the hospital, across the street, a man lowered his phone after photographing Maya through the window.
He sent the image to an encrypted contact and typed a short message.
BLACKWOOD HAS FOUND HER.
The reply arrived almost immediately.
THEN MAKE SURE NEITHER OF THEM REACHES THE TRUTH.
And just like that, Maya Sterling’s second chance began with a threat, a powerful stranger, and a promise she had no intention of breaking.
She had missed her exam to save a life.
Now she would have to discover whether she could help save that life a second time—without losing herself in Adrien Blackwood’s dangerous world.
