Page 14 of The Devil's Thorn
Someone else was watching.
Him.
I press the elevator button and feel a tremor in my fingers.
Even without seeing him, I know he was there. I could feel his presence crawling under my skin like smoke. I didn’t need eyes on him to know it.
He’s the kind of man who doesn’t enter a room—he changes the temperature of it.
The elevator doors open and I step in, inhaling deep.
I let the walls close around me. The silence. The calm.
But it’s not calm. Not really.
Because for the first time in a long time…
I’m not entirely surewhois huntingwho.
Kellan’s SUV is already waiting near the staff entrance, engine running, windows dark. I open the back door and slide in, letting the scent of leather and faint cologne anchor me back to something real.
Ash turns his head first.
“Well?”
I exhale slowly. “I start tomorrow.”
Kellan smirks. “Knew you’d make a good first impression.”
Ash’s brow arches. “Anyone suspicious?”
“Nikolai,” I mutter. “He’s sharp. And bored. The dangerous kind.”
“Rafael’s right hand?” Kellan asks as he shifts into drive.
“Yeah. He did the interview. Told me if Rafael notices me, it’s because helet himself.”
Ash snorts. “Arrogant bastard.”
“No,” I say, my voice quieter. “Not arrogant. Just… honest.”
They both glance at me, but neither says anything.
Kellan pulls onto the main road, the city rushing past outside our windows. The hotel disappears behind us, swallowed by the skyline.
I lean my head against the window and close my eyes for just a second.
There’s a pulse beneath my skin I can’t quiet.
Not fear.
Not adrenaline.
Something else.
Something that started the second I stepped into that building.
And it has his name.
