Page 3 of His Reckoning

Melissa starts pulling open drawers in the dresser.

“You can unpack later,” she says. “I just wanted to show you everything before I go.”

“You’re leaving already?”

She glances at her watch. “Colton and I have dinner reservations.”

Of course they do.

Newlyweds.

She walks back toward the hallway, and I follow her again.

We pass another bedroom, an office, and what looks like a small sitting room before returning to the main living area.

She grabs her purse from the kitchen counter. “You’ll be fine,” she says.

“That’s what people say before things go terribly wrong.”

Melissa laughs and walks toward the elevator.

At the door, she pauses and turns back to me. “Oh, and Sawyer usually gets home around six.”

I glance at the massive windows. The sky outside is already starting to dim.

“What time is it now?”

“Five thirty.”

Great.

She smiles innocently. “Try not to start a fight with him in the first ten minutes.”

“No promises.”

She presses the elevator button, and the doors slide open.

“Text me if you need anything,” she says as she steps inside.

Then the doors close and suddenly, the penthouse is quiet.

I stand there for a moment, listening to the silence stretch across the marble floors and high ceilings, like the apartment is holding its breath.

“Well,” I mutter to myself, “this is normal.”

I walk farther into the living room, my footsteps echoing softly.

The space somehow feels even bigger without Melissa here as the Manhattan skyline glows outside like a postcard.

I turn in a circle, taking it all in again.

Then I clasp my hands behind my back and start pacing slowly across the room.

“The billionaire’s penthouse was exactly what she’d expected,” I say aloud in a dramatic narrator voice. “Cold. Expensive. Slightly intimidating.”

My eyes move around the room like I’m mentally taking notes.

“Towering windows. Chandeliers everywhere. A kitchen that probably has appliances smarter than most people.”