Chapter 24 · External Override

"Don't look up." Vale's palm slams flat against my sternum and shoves me sideways into the shelf of ledger boxes, a half second before dust sifts down from the vent grate over our heads.

I look up anyway.

The grate's not fully open. It's canted, one screw still holding, and there's a boot wedged in the gap. Black, laced tight, toe pointed down like whoever's up there is trying to lower themselves without making a sound.

"Vale."

"I see it."

His body doesn't move off mine. If anything he presses closer, and I feel the wall of him against my shoulder, the heat coming off his neck, his breath gone shallow and controlled the way it gets right before he decides something ugly.

His hand stays flat on my chest, fingers spread over the exact spot where the bruise he left last night sits under my collar, and for one stupid second all I can think is that he can probably feel my heart going through his own palm.

"That's not Rhys's crew," he says, low. "Rhys doesn't send people through ducts. He sends people through doors, with paperwork, so it's on the record."

"So who—