Riven had been busy working himself up over the dinner date that hadn’t gone according to plan. The memory of his clash with Vela still lingered, but what troubled him even more was how he might reach Thira’s children again. He hadn’t expected fortune to favor him so quickly.

Thira hadn’t come to work that morning, and by the afternoon, his concern had grown restless. He called Johnson for an explanation. Johnson reported that neither Thira nor the kids had been home when he arrived ...