Reluctant thief Baz Barret is tasked with stealing from the formidable archaeologist Rei Collingwood--who happens to also be his college crush and rival--but when Rei goes missing after the burglary, Baz must find her before he's blamed for her disa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Rei's heart lived in her throat since Sébastien's phone call. There had been more unspoken words than spoken ones. Angelo was dying. It was a trap and it wasn't. Gwen had no more control over life and death than Rei had.
Except that Gwen thought Rei did, that she could force Angelo to hold on a little longer. The temptation pulled at her chest so hard, Rei was sure that was the only thing that dragged her from the parking lot to the front doors of the hospital.
She didn't stop at the nurse's station. Before she gave herself over to the logistics, Rei led herself into the elevator up to Angelo's room. The sides of the box closed in on her, the sensation of rising exacerbating every feeling coursing through her body. There were too many to count, too many to process. Some of them were so courageously certain, others so desperately weak that Rei hated herself for feeling them.
There was still time to turn back, to leave the way she came in and call the hospital from the privacy of her Mercedes. Pull the plug. Go ahead. She did not need to be there to say she agreed. The doctors did not need her physical presence.
The elevator stopped, the doors sliding open, but Rei didn't move immediately. She didn't until the doors threatened to close again and she had to jab at the button to escape.
She stepped through like she had every day before the stupid fundraiser. Before the long, sobering ambulance ride from the university to the hospital, Rei hadn't dreaded inviting donors to her penthouse. It seemed manageable to put on her Collingwood smile for one night to cater to deep pockets in the name of her museum and her university. Angelo encouraged her. He had his assistant recommend her caterers and bartenders. He promised to do what he always did, what Rei's father had asked of him a long time ago: settle the difference between Rei and Cheng. Mediate their disagreements.
It would've been an unfair arrangement if Rei hadn't been so disinterested in Sundial. After all, she had Angelo's favor and Cheng only humored him knowing that in any major decision, should Rei and Cheng disagree on anything, Angelo would be the tie-breaker.
Facing Cheng was an easier pill to swallow when Rei knew Angelo would be there to ensure civility.
Then he collapsed at the Open House.
Rei reached for her throat, like she might find the memory high collar of her dress from that night there.
No matter how many times Rei came by, the beeping monitors did not change. His status did not change. No matter what she said or did, Angelo did not miraculously rise again.
When she found his room once more, there was no hopeful twist of fate. No treatments had been performed since the hospital called her. No experimental procedures with a 5% chance of bringing him back.
The room was quiet except for white noise of the equipment, electricity pulsing into life, into breathing machines and heart rate monitors. The roses and sunflowers on the side table appeared more alive than he did, and even they were snipped from their bushes to bring a shred of color to the stark white room.
