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Krishoffered a wan smile. ‘Soundsgreat.’Oneof the perks of beingConnor’sassistant was the world travel.Hewould miss that.They’dbeen to every continent and everyEuropeancountry.There’dbeenSouthAfrica, theMaldives,NewYork…the list was long.
‘Sowhat are you up to tonight?’
Squeezinghis knees before crossing and uncrossing his arms,Krishsaid, ‘Nothingmuch.Justgoing toJess’sflat.Watcha movie while she knits something.’Shewould ask if he’d toldConnor.Ifhe failed, she’d give him that pityinglook that all teachers mastered when a student failed at something—even though he knew she wasn’t 100% behind his decision to leave.Shecame from a family where stability was king.Hermother had worked at the same accountancy firm her whole life, and her father, who had opened his dentistry practice in 1980, would probably die while performing a root canal.
Connorput on the indicator and turned right. ‘I’drather be doing that.Stella’sinvitedClaudiaandMagnusover for dinner.’
‘Ithought you andMagnusgot on now.’
‘Wedo, we do.Butsometimes he can be a little arrogant.’
Pursinghis lips,Krishkept himself from pointing out that was the pot calling the kettle black.Headmired and lovedConnor, but humility wasn’t one of his strong points.
Krishsucked in a deep breath.Heneeded to step off the cliff and take the plunge.Heopened his mouth.
‘SoItake it things are still going well with you andJess?’ askedConnor.
‘Yeah, good.Great.’Krishtipped his head back against his seat and banged it a few times.Whycouldn’t he just say it?
‘Isshe “TheOne”?’
Krishcould hear the air quotes implied inConnor’stone.Despitehis happily-ever-after withStella, he still derided the idea of soul mates and the idea of there being one person for everybody.
‘Ithink so.’Krishdidn’t mention the ring tucked in the back of his sock drawer.Thatwould start a whole other discussion that he didn’t want to get into right now.Focus,Krish, focus.Theypassed another set of lights.Thestudio was only a few streets away.Itwas now or never.Krish’sheart beat even faster as he shifted in his seat.C’mon, you coward.Youcan do this.Hescratched his ear.Thewords built in his mouth and he cleared his throat.
‘Connor—’
Aloud ringing in his pocket sliced through the air, severingKrish’smomentary bravado.Hesighed and reached for his phone.Francesca’sname unexpectedly flashed up onto the screen.Heimmediately tapped the green button. ‘Hello?’
‘Who’sthis?’ she asked with a strange catch in her voice.
‘It’sKrish.’
‘Shit!Imeant to call my sister.’
Hesat up.Thepanic in her tone was like a bucket of ice water over his head.Allthoughts of talking toConnorfled. ‘Tellme what’s wrong,Francesca.’
‘Myoffice.It’sa m-mess.I’vebeen burgled.’
7
Afterthe policeleft with a lukewarm promise to inform her if they found anything,Francescasurveyed the damage.Herlighting stands, which had obviously been deemed too unwieldy to steal, lay scattered on the floor.Herwhite boards had been ripped from the wall, as though the thieves expected safes to be hidden behind them.They’dbroken one of her editing screens, but left the other two.Oddly, her expensive camera equipment lay untouched in the corner.
Theonly things they’d actually taken were her latest back-up drives.Odd.Thankfully, another tenant had disturbed them by shouting that she’d already called the cops.
Francescadropped her head into her hands.Allthe footage from the gangster wedding was on those drives andonlythose drives.Shehadn’t yet had time to copy the files over to her set of off-site back-ups, which lived under her bed.Theonly other place that footage had been was on her memory cards…and she had wiped those already in preparation for her job that weekend.Shewould have to take them to a specialist company to see if they could recover anything.Anexpensive exercise that would cost money she didn’t have.
‘Bollockingbollocks,’she intoned as she rubbed at her face.Justwhat she needed, especially on top of the pest control bill at home.
Sheheard footsteps in the hallway and picked up her cricket bat, heart thumping.
‘Francesca?’Krish’svoice called out.
Bugger.Whenit came to people who she could call in a crisis, her list was short.Herparents lived inSpain.Shehad no close friends inLondon.Thatleft her siblings.Neitherof her brothers ever picked up on the rare occasions that she called them.Toobusy leading their important lives.Tobe fair, she didn’t pick up when they called her either.Thatleft her sister,Donna—named after her godmother (anotherOlympian).AlthoughFrancescaandDonnaweren’t close, at least she had a car and only lived ninety minutes away.
That’swhoFrancescahad meant to phone.Unfortunately, in her panic, her finger must have slipped and she hitKrish’snumber.Hewas listed in her contacts as ‘DONOTCALLEVER’.RightunderDonna.
Hercheeks flushed and her stomach twisted inside her.Shedidn’t want him to play at being her knight in shining armour. ‘Inhere,’ she called out.
