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How I wished Kirby could have been here with her quips, making me smile even when I was scared. Less than a minute in his company, and I already wanted to be anywhere else.

Our eyes suddenly met through the glass, and he stopped and stared.

I’d been slow to recognise the danger with Jeremy, even if I’d known something was off. The glint in Dustin’s eyes, the hardness in his features… there was no mistaking that.

My hand trembled around the knife before I firmed my grip. “Oleander,” I whispered.

If I’d surprised him, nothing showed in his expression.

After a moment’s hesitation, I went on the offensive and pushed the door open, stepping outside.

“Well,” he said, “I wondered who was responsible for this mess.”

Late afternoon had slipped into dusk, casting shadows across his features. I had no idea if he looked this sinister in full daylight, but the fading sun wasn’t doing him any favours. “Dustin.”

Hearing his name from a stranger caught him off guard. His posture straightened, and he peered down his nose at me. “Correct—and you are?”

“Ava.”

“Ah,” he said. “The sister.”

Spoken like he’d just identified the mystery piece of dirt clinging to the bottom of his shoe.

His eyes flicked over me, assessing and dismissing in a glance. “She left. There’s no need for you to be here.”

I kept my head up and remained quiet, letting him fill the silence. He seemed like the type of man who enjoyed the sound of his own voice.

“And the car,” he said. “You’re using a resident’s space, not the visitor parking.” His lips moved in a grim imitation of a smile.

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about than a car parked in the wrong spot, don’t you think?”

“Such as?” he asked.

Every instinct told me to put space between us, to stop pushing him. “The infected? Supplies running out? Voyeurs and perverts?”

His pupils dilated until his eyes looked black in the low light. Had he looked at Sadie the same way? Did his expression have that same bite when he called her a horrible name?

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said. “And you most certainly shouldn’t be moving around the building without—”

“A chaperone? Your permission?” I stepped forward and erased the space he’d been under the illusion of controlling. “Are you aware the world’s ending? Those rules you care so much about don’t apply anymore.”

“If that’s the case, you should be more careful about the way you speak to me.”

He hadn’t raised his voice. His words didn’t hold any heat at all, but my breath caught.

He repositioned his glasses with a push of his index finger. “Gather your belongings and the man you brought with you, and leave the premises immediately.”

Knowing he’d been watching us while we were unaware made me shiver. How and where could he have seen us if we’d never spotted him? “We’ll be leaving when we’re good and ready,” I said, “and in the meantime, we’re using my sister’s apartment.”

He’d barely spared my knife a glance. He wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.

“And there lies the problem,” he said. “Without structure and order, people think they can behave however they please.”

“Like my sister?”

“Precisely.”

I moved a little closer. “Is that why you followed her everywhere and put cameras in her apartment?”