CHAPTER 33: THE PROBLEM OF RAFAEL MONTENEGRO-1
KNOX’S POV
She cries then, quietly, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin in a way that’s clearly practiced but no less real
for it.
I wait while she composes herself, and when she looks up again, she’s smiling with the kind of
determination that tells me this isn’t over.
“Will you at least dance with me at the New Year’s Eve ball?” she asks. “One dance. That’s all. For old
times’ sake.”
I should say no. I can feel the trap closing, the way each small concession leads to a larger one.
But she’s dying, and I’m not quite enough of a monster to refuse a dying woman a single dance.
“One dance,” I say. “In public. With Ember present.”
She nods like she’s won something, and maybe she has.
The photographer she hired, sitting three tables away with a telephoto lens, has been capturing every
moment of this meeting, and I’m only noticing now because I was too focused on managing the
conversation to scan the room properly.
Rayana touching my arm. Both of us leaning close. The intimate angles that will look damning regardless
of what actually happened.
I should have anticipated this. I should have known she’d come prepared.
“I’ll have my assistant send details about the Northern Lights tour,” I say, standing. “Later this week.”
Rayana stands too and hugs me before I can prevent it, her body pressed against mine for several
seconds too long, positioned perfectly for the photographer’s lens.
When she pulls back, her eyes are bright with something that might be triumph or genuine affection. With
Rayana, it’s always impossible to tell.
I leave the café feeling like I’ve just walked through a minefield while blindfolded and somehow managed
not to trigger any explosions.
But the mines are still there. Waiting. And Rayana is more dangerous than Gale because Gale is obviously unhinged.
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