Chapter 24

Chapter 24.. The afternoon sky was gray without being completely dark. Clouds hung low, as if hesitating between letting the rain fall or holding it back. Liora stood near the apartment window, looking down at the small courtyard below, where Nolan sat on a wooden bench drawing something in his thin notebook. Damien stood not far from the boy, pretending to be busy with his cell phone, but his eyes occasionally glanced up, always returning to Nolan. The scene felt strangely calm. Too calm for a life surrounded by danger. A soft knock sounded at the door. Not hurried. Not forceful. Liora knew who it was even before she moved. She took a breath, holding it a few seconds longer than necessary, then opened the door. Adrian stood there, without a suit, without bodyguards, without the cold expression he usually wore in boardrooms. His hair was slightly disheveled, his shirt not perfectly ironed. He looked like someone who had come not as the heir to Vale, but as a man who hadn't slept we