Page 14 of Shattered Hearts

“I mean, I can’t, but perhaps someone else can.”

Stella speaks up. “But didn’t you say—”

I lay a hand on her knee under the table.

Willow opens her eyes wide in an owlish look that doesn’t become her.

I took long enough to put two and two together.

Pop should revoke my license.

All this going back and forth. I suppress a sigh.

Stella and I finish our cheesecake, and they pick up where they left off, gossiping and talking about the latest fashion trends. Stella tells her a little about Quinn Sawyer, and Willow rattles off a few names Quinn should look up in New York. “I’ll call ahead and offer a reference,” she says, straightening her shoulders, proud she can give Stella’s friend entrée into the high-class fashion world.

“She’ll appreciate that.”

We’ve been here for over two hours, and I can’t get outside fast enough.

“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Black,” I say, adjusting my coat.

Stella slips on her cream wool jacket and shoves a matching beret over her hair.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Davenport.” She places her hand on the doorhandle to show us out.

So close to freedom.

“Wait. We came for more than only Zarah,” Stella says, leather gloves clutched in her hands. “Why did you let me go? That night I escaped your building. You saw me and let me go.”

“Why did you choose that night to leave?” Willow asks, her gaze fixed firmly onto Stella’s face.

“Because I knew the security cameras in that area of the building would be down for a software upgrade.”

“Yes.”

Stella frowns. “Why wereyoudown that hallway?”

“I was saying goodbye to Senator Cook. He had a car waiting in the back, to avoid the paparazzi that followed him and my husband from Luna Blanc.”

“Rourke was in your building the night Stella escaped?” I ask. Sweat slides down my back.

“He and my husband were doing business that evening.”

“Yeah,” Stella says, “but I didn’t leave until after midnight. They were doing business until midnight?”

Willow gives her that owlish look again, and it’s starting to annoy me. Nothing about this woman is innocent.

“It was midnight and the cameras were down. You weren’t supposed to be there, either. That’s why you never said anything. Because you couldn’t. What were you doing, Willow?”

I knew.

“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Black,” I say, yanking the door open with more force than necessary.

“But—” Stella protests, and I tug on her arm.

She’s furious, and rage rolls off her in the elevator. Wade throws her dubious glances until the doors glide open and he hurries out of the box.

Willow’s security changed hands over the lunch hour, but the new guards don’t look at us as we walk through the lobby and out the doors.

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