The photograph showed Elise standing in her kitchen with the broken coffee cup still scattered across the floor.
She stared at it until the room seemed to tilt beneath her feet.
The picture had been taken through the window from somewhere across the street.
In it, her bandaged arm rested against the counter.
Her phone was still pressed to her ear.
She had been speaking to Matteo.
“That was less than an hour ago,” Elise whispered.
Matteo stood on the other side of the table, one hand braced against the chair as though the simple act of remaining upright cost him more than he wanted her to see.
“Yes.”
“You’re sure your people didn’t take it?”
His eyes hardened.
“My people do not hide from me.”
That answer frightened her more than shouting would have.
Elise looked toward the rain-streaked window.
A line of black SUVs filled the curb.
Matteo’s men stood beneath umbrellas or beside open vehicle doors, scanning rooftops, parked cars, windows.
For the first time, they did not look theatrical.
They looked necessary.
The apartment door opened behind Matteo.
The scarred man from the hospital entered without wasting a motion.
“We found the car,” he said.
Matteo’s expression did not change.
“Driver?”
“Gone when we reached it.”
Elise turned.
“What car?”
The scarred man looked at Matteo before answering.
“A sedan parked two buildings down.
Camera equipment in the back.
No plates.”
Her mouth went dry.
Matteo closed the folder.
“You are leaving this apartment.”
Elise’s fear instantly collided with anger.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“Then consider it a medical recommendation.”
“You’re not a doctor.”
“No.
Doctors rarely arrive with six armored vehicles.”
Despite everything, the absurdity nearly pulled a laugh from her.
It vanished when Matteo leaned forward.
“I am not asking you to trust me, Elise.
I am asking you to believe the evidence on your table.”
She looked at the folder again.
Someone had followed her from the hospital.
Someone had waited outside her home.
Someone had photographed her through the glass.
Matteo lowered his voice.
“The men who brought down my aircraft expected me to die.
Instead, you pulled me out alive.
They do not know what I told you in the water.
They do not know what you saw.
They only know that you were there.”
“I saw a burning plane and a man drowning.”
“I know that.”
“They don’t?”
