The silence in Felix's hotel suite was so complete it rang in his ears. Not the kind of silence that came with peace, but the brittle, breathless kind that made your spine stiffen and your thoughts riot. His hand was still on the doorknob, chilled brass warming beneath his palm. But he didn't move. He couldn't.
Lara Johanssen had just stood on the other side of that door.
He hadn't imagined her. That smile, glossed and knowing, soft as it was venomous. The audacity of her being here, in Singapore, at his hotel, left him too stunned to feel anything else at first.
Then the doorbell rang again.
It was longer this time. Not demanding, but persistent. A kind of coaxing that curled like smoke under the door. His body, rigid as stone, didn't twitch. Then a second ring. A third. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back until it thudded softly against the wooden panel behind him.
Her voice followed, muffled and too familiar. "Felix… I know you're inside."
