Chapter 446
Chapter 446:
The footage showed the corridor in clear, unbroken detail — and showed nothing. No figure, no shadow, no movement of any kind throughout the entire night.
After the manager left, Kristine looked at Davin. “Do you think we’re just being jumpy p>
He held her gaze for a long, considered moment. The stress on her face wasn’t lost on him.
“Maybe,” he said.
She visibly relaxed. “Then I’m going to try to get some sleep.” She pushed herself up from the couch.
Davin nodded and watched her go.
The moment she was out of sight, something shifted in his eyes — something cold and focused, with an edge that had nothing gentle about it.
𝗡𝖾𝘄 𝘸e𝘦𝘬l𝘺 c𝘩а𝗉𝘵𝖾r𝘴 𝘰𝗻
He knew exactly what he had heard. And he had seen that door handle move with his own eyes. The footage had been tampered with.
He moved to the door and stood there in the dark, still and patient, listening to every sound the building made.
The rest of the night passed without incident.
When Kristine came out the next morning, Davin was exactly where she had left him.
“Did you stay up all night?” she asked.
“Yes p>
“Then you need to rest p>
“I’m fine p>
“If you don’t sleep, how exactly do you plan to protect me?” She waited.
He had no immediate answer for that.
“It’s daylight now,” she added. “Nothing is going to happen. And Vinson is somewhere nearby watching — you know that p>
Davin turned it over. She wasn’t wrong.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll lie down p>
“Go on,” she said, waving him off, and went to wash up.
By the time she came back out, he had fallen asleep on the couch — flat on his back, perfectly straight, like a soldier holding formation even in sleep.
She looked at him and shook her head. She went to the bedroom, found a blanket, and draped it over him. Then she settled back into her room and returned to work on Alma’s watch.
She was nearly finished. The next time she saw Alma, she would be able to give it back. The thought brought a small smile to her face, followed almost immediately by a quieter thought — she found herself wondering when she would see Asher again.
In a hotel room in Peudon, Elyse sat rigid, staring at her phone screen.
One word. Failed.
She pressed her fingers into her palm until her knuckles went white.
“What do you mean, failed?” she typed back, her thumbs moving fast and hard. “We had an agreement. I pay you, Kristine dies. If you can’t handle something this straightforward, what exactly are you good for p>
The response that came was not words but a string of photographs. Elyse tapped through them, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
“What is all this?” she typed.
Asher Edwards booked the entire hotel. These are images of the security system he had installed.
Her expression fell.
Getting inside required bypassing multiple layers of protection. Once inside, Kristine has two professional guards — one visible, one concealed. If I hadn’t been careful last night, I’d be dead. It’s not a simple job.