DERIC

I should’ve ignored the call. Hell, I should’ve blocked her the moment her name showed up on my phone five times in a row. But here I was, jaw clenched, hands on the wheel, driving toward a rooftop café that Elyra had texted me like some kind of royal command. Her text was short. “We need to talk. Alone.” The kind of message that never led to anything good.

The sun was melting into the horizon when I arrived. She was already there, perched like a ...