Chapter 32 · Lock

"Don't touch that door." Nico's voice came flat from the kitchen, like he already knew my hand was on the knob.

I froze anyway. "It's my apartment."

"It's the job's apartment. Different thing." He crossed the room in four steps, too quiet for a man his size, and put his palm flat against the wood over my shoulder. Not touching me. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him through my shirt. "New lock. I had it swapped this morning while you were asleep."

"You went through my door while I was sleeping."

"I went through the building. Your door's the one that matters." He tapped the deadbolt, brand new, brass still shiny under the hallway light. "Somebody tried the old one last night. Didn't get far. But they tried."

That landed somewhere behind my ribs and stayed there. "Tried how far."

"Far enough that I heard it from the stairwell." Nico's jaw worked once. "Far enough that if I hadn't been in the building, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.