The lobby’s air-conditioned bite cut through Eva’s thin blazer, a sharp reminder of the world she had spent five years running from. On the polished granite bench behind her, Leo swung his small legs. The rhythmic thud-thud of his sneakers echoed against the soaring glass ceiling. She checked her watch. 8:01 AM. In ten minutes, she would be just another badge number in HR induction, a ghost in the machine of Cole Industries. Just be invisible, she prayed. Be nobody.
The revolving doors hissed. Adrian Cole claimed the space with a predatory grace that made the air feel thin. He looked exactly the same. Sharp-jawed. Effortless. Radiating a cold, focused power. He moved fast, flanked by a suit-clad entourage, his scent of rain and cedar catching in her throat. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She ducked her head, eyeing the elevator bank twenty feet away. A sanctuary of steel. Then the world stopped. Adrian’s stride faltered directly in front of the bench.
He turned. His gaze snagged on the small boy with the messy dark hair and those startling, slate-grey eyes. A flicker of haunted recognition crossed Adrian's face as he stared at the son he didn’t know he had. Eva snatched Leo’s hand, diving into the closing elevator just as the lead guard turned.
Marcus Thorne stepped from the shadows and raised a handheld scanner.
