Tightening his grip on the wheel, Avery wondered if perhaps he needed intense therapy or something to rid his brain of thoughts about a woman who didn’t belong in his head. He did not want her there. She did not want to be there. Her husband would kill him—or have him killed—if he knew how often Avery still thought of her. Not to mention what it would do to Shelby to find out that he still reacted to Sam the way he always had, despite the amazing relationship he now had with Shelby.

He’d never in his life faced a challenge as confounding as this one. How could he be madly in love with one woman and still thinking about someone he’d never had anything with?

“Fucking hell,” he muttered as he brought the car to a stop at the curb a block from Hamilton’s red brick mansion. “It’s got to fucking stop, and it’s going to stop right now. Today. That’s it.”

He got out of the car and walked the short distance to the director’s front gate, surprised to find one side of it open. Avery knew the director had declined any sort of government security for himself or his home, preferring to take care of himself rather than have a detail, so it was surprising to see the gate standing open.

A tingling sensation rippled down his spine. Avery had learned to pay attention to the sensations that alerted him to potential trouble. Looking around, he saw that the street and sidewalk were all but deserted. Other houses on the block were aglow with lights, but Hamilton’s place was dark.

He walked down the driveway to the portico where Hamilton’s silver Jaguar was the only car in the driveway. The tingling intensified when he went up the stairs to the wide veranda and noticed the front door was ajar. Pausing for a second, he contemplated calling for backup, but hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to draw any more attention to the director or his family, especially if there was no reason for it. He rang the doorbell and listened to the loud chimes echo through the house.

After waiting a few minutes, he knocked on the door. When no one came, he drew his weapon and nudged the door open with his shoulder. The house was so dark he could barely make out the shape of a table in the front hall. His foot slipped on something on the floor. Withdrawing his phone, he turned on the flashlight to find a shattered vase that had contained yellow flowers. Water had spilled all over the marble floor.