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Liv: He’s working for you, isn’t he?
NO FACE: It’s a much better fit for him.
Liv: Was that man dangerous?
Three dots appeared. Vanished, then appeared again.
NO FACE: He was curious.
Liv: That’s worse.
NO FACE: Correct.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
Liv: Are you going to kill him?
NO FACE: Do you want me to?
I went hot all over.
No, no, absolutely not, that was not hot. That was a red flag with money. That was a man turning murder into flirtation because his hobbies needed psychiatric oversight.
Liv: I want you to answer normal questions like a normal creep.
NO FACE: Then ask a normal question.
I stared at the screen.
Liv: What happens at 4?
His answer came fast.
NO FACE: Vale brings you to me.
My pulse jumped.
Liv: And then?
NO FACE: Then you stop pretending you don’t like what this is.
1:19. Three hours and one minute. A kid knocked over a chair, and the crack of wood against tile made my whole body flinch. His mother apologized six times while I smiled and lied through my teeth.
2:13.
The grinder jammed with a sound like a bone snapping.
“Absolutely not today,” I told it. I fixed the grinder too. Kalon watched me with something softer than worry.
“You’re good at this,” he said.
I wiped coffee dust from my hands and tried not to absorb that.
My phone buzzed again.
NO FACE: I like when you work with your hands.
My mind served up his hands on my hips in the walk-in, his voice against my ear, that awful beautiful sentence, Tonight, you are mine. My thighs pressed together behind the counter.
