She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, touched down quietly, and walked over to grab the baseball bat leaning in its regular spot in the corner.

In the open doorway to the living room, she tried to get her bearings in the darkness. She could sense all the contours of the room; nothing seemed out of place. There wasn’t anything that stuck out.

She stood in silence and listened for a bit. Then she cautiously stepped into the living room with the bat raised high over her shoulder, ready to swing.

Nothing in here. What about the kitchen?

Heloise noticed a little light under the door in the front hall and a shadow moving on the other side of the door. She was so quiet that she could hear her pulse in her ears as she slowly walked across the floorboards, trying to avoid the ones that creaked.

Her face was only a few inches from the peephole when there was a firm knock on her door.

She took a frightened step back and tripped over her computer bag. The baseball bat hit the bare wood floor with a bang, and she fumbled frantically after it in the dark.

“Heloise?”

The voice on the other side of the door brought her to a sudden stop.

“Heloise, I can hear you in there. Open the door!”

Relief and then anger welled up inside her.

She got up and turned on the light. Then she decisively undid the lock and flung open the door.

“What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night?” Her voice sounded three octaves higher than usual—hysterical and aggrieved. “For crying out loud, I thought someone was breaking into my apartment.”

Martin Duvall gazed at her blankly, his eyes looking her over.

“It’s only ten fifteen. You were asleep already?” He reached out a hand to touch her face. “You have pillow marks on your cheek.”

Heloise pulled her head away. “What do you want?” she asked, her arms around herself. She was cold and tired and all too aware that she looked like someone who had slept in her clothes, while he stood there in his tailor-made suit, clean and pleasant smelling and just … handsome. He was always so infuriatingly handsome.

Fuck.

“I really want to talk to you,” he replied. “Can I come in?”

“No.” She grabbed the doorknob and blocked him from entering with her body.

“I’ve called and texted you a hundred times. Why don’t you answer your phone?”

“Because you can’t possibly have anything to say that I want to hear.”

“Heloise, I swear. I didn’t know anything about those documents being—”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Just listen, would you? I didn’t know—”