No matter what it was.


    "...Yeah."


    Forcing a smile despite the sting still burning on her lips, M managed, "I''m fine. It just caught me off guard for a second, that''s all. What are you up to?"


    She nced at theputer, eager to change the subject.


    "Jade has already locked down the estate," Forrest replied, setting aside the bottle of antiseptic. He pulled theptop closer. "I figured I''d check the security footage, see where he wentst. Do you want to look?"


    He was worried the footage might upset M again.


    "I do."


    With a dangerous man hiding somewhere on the grounds, M had regained herposure and wanted nothing more than to find him at the very least, to figure out his motives and prepare ordingly. The thought of someone lurking in the shadows, watching her every move, left her restless and on edge.


    She leaned in beside him to watch.


    ...


    The security cameras covered nearly the entire estate. Right now, the ballroom feed was ying, chaos unfolding onscreen.


    Jade stood at the center of the dance floor.


    A group of servants moved through the crowd, scanning faces. The guests were restless, but with Jade holdingmand, things hadn''t spiraled out of control- though here and there, someone let out a shout of anger.


    Forrest dragged the timeline back.


    He rewound the footage until the ballroom was empty, then watched as a flood of elegantly dressed guests poured in and the party began.


    Both of them stared at the screen, barely blinking.


    Before long, M spotted herself standing at the edge of the dance floor. As the footage progressed, she felt her heart pounding harder with every second.


    There.


    After the first man invited her to dance and she turned him down, a figure slowly emerged from an upper corner-a blind spot for the camera on her left. A man draped in a ck cloak, his face hidden behind a ghastly mask streaked with crimson tears, stepped into view. His purpose was clear: he moved straight through the crowd, heading directly for her.


    M didn''t need to watch any further.


    She didn''t want to.


    Forrest, though, was seeing the whole encounter for the first time. He watched as the masked man finished the dance, pressed a kiss to M''s hand, and plucked the rose from her mask. Forrest''s usually calm eyes darkened.


    Of course.


    He saw it all. At that moment, Forrest himself was crossing the ballroom, and the masked man must have noticed this was a tant show of defiance, a warning.


    A warning not to interfere.


    Forrest''s hands, resting on his knees, curled into fists. A jolt of pain shot from his knuckles up his arm, sending a sharp ache pounding through his head. His temples throbbed a re-up of the nerve pain left over from a shattered hand, something that hadn''t troubled him since Lysander''s supposed death a year ago. Now, of all times, it threatened to return.


    Not now.


    Forrest clenched his fists tighter, forcing the pain down so M wouldn''t notice. Beads of sweat gathered on his brow.


    Watching the masked man slip away, the stolen rose in hand, Forrest knew— there could be no doubt. That was Lysander. Only he would dare something like this.


    The bastard.


    If he was supposed to be dead, couldn''t he stay dead?


    Haunting them still.


    "Forrest?"


    M, gauging the progress bar and thinking it was almost time to check the next camera, looked over-and noticed Forrest''s fists,


    white knuckled and slick with sweat, clenched beneath the table. Worried, she reached out and covered his hand with hers.


    "Why are your hands so sweaty?"


    "Oh, it''s a little warm in here." Forrest jerked back to himself, yanking his hand


    away, voice just a little too stiff as he scrambled for an excuse.


    “Is it?” M nced over his ck suit, gold embroidery glinting in themplight. It was tailored perfectly and with the summer heat creeping in, she figured maybe he really was ufortable. She suggested, "If you''re that hot, why not take off your jacket? We''re not at the ball anymore."


    Besides, after all that''s happened, the party was as good as over.


    "I''m fine, really. Just a little warm-l can handle it. Forrest forced a smile through clenched teeth, fighting the pain in his hand as he tapped the keyboard to switch cameras. "Let''s focus. Watch closely-let''s see where he went after leaving the ballroom."


    So let''s


    M''s attention shifted back to the screen.


    The camera switched to the garden.


    The cloaked man strode straight through the main entrance, vanishing into the sprawling rose gardens. The bushes and trellises formed a dense maze; once he slipped in, it was nearly impossible to track him.


    They focused on the garden exits.


    Nothing.


    He never came out.


    They scoured every camera angle, but the man had simply disappeared. The estate''s perimeter feeds showed not a single trace of him leaving.


    He was still here.


    Realizing this, M and Forrest locked eyes. M immediately stood and snatched


    a golf club from the rack in the corner-she wasn''t about to go searching alone,


    but there was no way she''d just sit and do nothing, either.


    After everything they''d been through with Lysander, it was clear: safety in numbers. Anything else was asking for trouble.


    She hadn''t brought her phone, so she turned to a servant nearby. "Go to the ballroom and tell Jade the intruder is most likely hiding in the garden." With that, she and Forrest headed for the door-only to freeze as soon as they reached it.


    Five or six security guards stood waiting outside.


    After double-checking that they were indeed sent by Jade, M finally felt her heart slow down. She nodded, then led Forrest and the security team toward the gardens.