Xavier’s POV

When the fire’s too bright, you stop asking where the smoke comes from, you just brace for what’s burning next.

Luca didn’t knock.

He burst through my office doors close to midnight, his voice sharp enough to cut through the hum of the city below.

“She’s fine,” he said first, before I could ask. “Celeste. Shaken, but fine. Her laptop’s gone.”

I pushed away from the desk, the chair screeching against the floor. “Gone?”

“Snatched clean. They knew what they ...