Chapter 32 · First Patient Dawn

"Read the sign again, Sloane. Slower this time."

I didn't need to read it again. I'd read it four times already, standing on a step stool at five in the morning with a screwdriver in my fist, trying to pry the damn thing off my own door.

*Vale Trust — S. Hart, Director (on loan).*

"On loan." I said it out loud so he'd hear how stupid it sounded. "Like I'm a folding chair, Cassian."

"Like you're funded." He was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, not even bothering to look tired, and that alone made me want to throw the screwdriver at his head. "That plaque means nobody touches this clinic without going through my fund first. Not Ethan. Not the council. Not the men who put a bounty on your name at the lake port."

"I didn't ask you to buy me a leash."

"I didn't buy a leash." His jaw ticked. "I bought a wall."

I got one screw loose before the pounding started. Not knocking —