Oh no. Oh fuck. She stared in horror at the bus driver.
His eyes had been torn out just like Tim’s. Blood streaked down his face and soaked the front of his uniform. Caro froze, a shriek of horror trapped in her throat.
She shut her eyes, teetering on the edge of screaming panic. Not real. Not real.
Noah Gallagher. She seized onto the image of him. His intense gaze as he sprinted after her through the car-clogged street. Searching for her.
The image radiated heat through her.
Air came into her lungs. Slowly, she dared to open her eyes.
“. . . gettin’ on this bus or not, miss? Come on! I don’t got all night!”
The driver had his eyes again. Blue, frowning at her in puzzlement. His uniform was clean, blood free, his buttons straining over a heavy gut. Just a middle-aged man with beard scruff and heavy jowls. He looked tired and annoyed.
A few passengers put in their two cents, rudely.
She mumbled an incoherent apology, scrambled the rest of the way in and found an empty seat, winded. She’d gotten through that so quickly. No nausea. No lingering aura.
Just a vision she couldn’t shake of a man like no other. And there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to get Noah Gallahger out of her head.
Not that she wanted to.
Chapter 3
Noah felt strangled by his own clothing when he got upstairs. He unbuttoned his collar and loosened his tie with an angry tug as he strode through Angel Enterprises. His employees scrambled frantically out of his path. He must look ferocious.
He felt ferocious. He’d been on the verge of acquiring Rand Batello’s biomed company. Batello’s stepdaughter, the brilliant Simone Brightman, had just recently agreed to marry him. Batello’s company seemed a perfect match for Angel Enterprises, just as Simone had seemed perfect for him personally. She was elegant, intelligent, beautiful.
And the safest possible choice for a partner. He would have seen the signs, if Simone were mixed up with Obsidian. He hadn’t run AVP on her, since she knew nothing about his past, but even through the contacts and the shield specs, there was no way he could have missed that.
He’d never liked her stepdad Rand, but an annoying in-law was a walking cliché. Noah welcomed anything that added apparent normalcy to his life. Even if it bugged the shit out of him.
But Asa’s warning cast Batello in a new light.
It could be a coincidence. Obsidian had its tentacles everywhere. If Obsidian had found them, it wouldn’t waste time or resources on infiltration.
It would eat them alive and spit out their bones.
Several of his team, including Hannah, were still crowded around the conference room door when he approached. She called something out to him as he passed, her tone sharp and defensive. He couldn’t be bothered to listen or respond.
He had more pressing problems at the moment.
Simone turned to him as he walked into the room. No smile. Her lipstick looked startlingly red against her pale skin.
As always, she was impeccably put together. Understated jewelry, slender figure set off by a silver gray designer suit. Her hair was swept up, invisibly pinned. Pure class. Total sophistication. The absolute opposite of a hired exotic dancer bedecked with dollar-store trinkets and twirling veils.
Simone held herself ramrod straight, looking him right in the eyes.
He wasn’t used to that. He realized that he’d never seen her angry before.
“What’s going on?” Rand Batello demanded. “Where did you run off to? That belly dancer have anything to do with it?” Rand’s fleshy face was even redder and more congested looking than usual.
“No.” Noah exhaled before he allowed himself to answer, and the words that came out surprised him. “Things have changed. The deal’s off.”
There was a breathless moment in the room, just enough time to reflect upon how crazy it was to make a decision this big based on an unsolicited text message.
From Asa. Who he hadn’t seen or spoken to in thirteen years and whose agenda was a mystery. But it didn’t matter. When Noah made a decision, it stayed made.
Batello shot an accusatory glance at Simone, and then looked at the documentation laid out across the table where Noah had been sitting. “What the fuck? This was a done deal. What the hell happened?”
Obsidian happened. Your secret partner. My family’s mortal enemies.
“I can’t discuss the details,” Noah said.
“The hell you say,” Batello sputtered. “You can’t back out with no explanation!”
“I just did,” Noah replied.
“At least explain why you’ve changed your mind.” Simone’s voice was strained.
“Like I just said, I can’t. Sorry.”
“Sorry?” The pitch of Simone’s voice climbed. “You throw this in my face, in front of a room full of people, and then you tell me that you’re sorry?”
“Yes. I am.”
Sisko, his right hand man, caught his eye, sending a silent message. Good luck with that, my friend.