A sudden flash of light illuminated the interior of the SUV.

My heart leaped into my throat.

It wasn’t lightning.

On the dashboard, Aries’s burner phone was face up in the console.

The screen was glowing bright white, displaying an incoming call from an unknown, restricted number.

Aries stared at the screen, his hand hovering over the device.

Aries swiped his thumb across the glowing screen and brought the phone to his ear.

He did not say a word.

He simply listened, his jaw tightening until the muscle in his cheek twitched.

The rain continued to hammer against the windshield, blurring the dark shapes of the cranes outside.

After ten seconds, Aries ended the call and slipped the phone back into the console.

“Who was it?” I asked.

“An old friend,” he said, his voice flat.

Before I could ask anything else, the driver’s side door opened.

Killian stood in the downpour, his coat dripping, gesturing for us to move.

“It’s clear,” Killian said. “Inside. Now.”

I grabbed my heavy leather work bag from the floorboards and pushed my door open.