His phone vibrated inside his suit jacket. Still chuckling with the other two men, he pulled it out, noted Sam’s number on the display and answered. “I thought you were off rotation today.”

An awkward silence stretched for two heartbeats before Sam responded. “Well, I was. I mean, I am. But Miss McClintock called about a half hour ago and said she was going out.”

“Out is good. How is she?”

Another pause. “Very...focused.”

Focused.

An odd word that didn’t seem as troubling as the uncertainty voiced behind it. “Where did she want to go?”

“She said she needed to be taken to the television station, but when Abel and Patrick picked her up, she wasn’t dressed like she normally is when she goes in. Had on a T-shirt and jeans. I wasn’t sure if that was something you needed to know about.”

The station?

It made no sense. Not after the things they’d talked about and the path they’d set.

Unless she’d changed her mind.

He clenched the arm of his chair, the action mild compared to the tension that settled in his stomach. “Did she say anything else?”

“No. Only said that she didn’t think she’d be long and that Abel and Patrick should plan to wait on her.”

The levity that had colored Roman and Sergei’s expressions seconds before was now gone, replaced with the same laser focus Kir felt.

He needed to say something. Give some kind of direction to his men, but his thoughts were too erratic. Spinning like a compass incapable of finding north. “It was wise to call me. Have them stay close to her and text me the minute she’s back in the car.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kir ended the call and slid his phone back into his jacket’s interior pocket.

“Where is she?” Sergei said.

He forced himself to take a steady breath. Then another. “She went to the station.”

“To what purpose?”

“She didn’t say. Only told the men she wouldn’t be long, and that they should wait for her.”

Roman volleyed a look between Sergei and Kir. “Doesn’t sound like anything serious. Maybe she just forgot something.”

Possible. But walking away from a career overnight wasn’t something many people would do lightly. Someone as driven to succeed as Cassie even less so.

“Whatever you’re thinking,” Sergei said, “do not make assumptions.”

“Nyet,” Roman added. “She would not say one thing and act differently only hours later.”

They were right. She might have allowed the opinions of others to sway her once upon a time, but she’d owned her relationship with him when confronted by her boss. She was opening up to who she was. What she wanted. She was smart. Clever. Never once tried to manipulate him the way his mother had his father.

He nodded more to himself than to the men across from him and straightened in his chair. “You are right. Whatever she’s doing, she’ll have a reason for it.” He stood, picking up his copy of the guest list as he did.