Chapter 4

When the morning light hit Inna’s face through the blinds, she groaned and pulled the pillow over her head.

She wasn’t a heavy drinker. One glass of wine after work was her limit. That expensive Scotch last night had gone down easy and was now beating the hell out of her. Unable to get up, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. But underneath the hangover, she felt warm when last night came back in pieces.

The Anchor Bar. Amber light on Vikram’s face. The moment her pinky brushed his.

It had been brief. They had touched each other for barely a second. But he felt it. She was sure of it. He had leaned into it. For that one heartbeat, the grief moved aside and he looked at her like a woman, not a detective.

She smiled at the ceiling. He’d turned her down but he had been honest about it. Said he couldn’t move forward while Elara was still in his head. But the way he looked at her...

It puzzled and excited her in a strange way that she had never experienced.

Inna had spent years perfecting the cold shoulder on others. She’d never been on the receiving end.

It should have stung. Instead it made her want him more.

His loyalty was rare. In a city where people treated relationships like disposable objects, Vikram Sen held onto a memory with a death grip. That made him exactly the kind of man she wanted. Intelligent. Capable. The kind of loyal that ran bone-deep. If a man like that decided you were worth his time, he wouldn’t just be a boyfriend. He’d be a partner.

She threw the covers back and sat up, wincing as her hangover reappeared with a vengeance. She needed a huge glass of water and about a gallon of coffee to get started this morning.

Inna ultimately got out of bed and stared at nothing in particular until her head pounded less. Her apartment was sparse. A few half-dead plants, a stack of true crime books, one photo from her academy graduation. The home of someone who spent more time in other people’s tragedies than her own.

She was filling the kettle when her phone buzzed on the counter. The vibration rattled against a ceramic plate.

Inna wiped her hands on her leggings and picked it up. Probably her sergeant about a shift. Or someone asking about a file.