Page 24 of Choosing Stella

“The Network. Antonio. Apparently Volkov. Anyone Antonio told.”

“You have threats connected to your work?”

“No.”

“Personal threats?”

Her eyes sharpened.

“No current ones.”

The word current stood out.

I didn’t know what she meant by it, and it wasn’t mine to pull out of her.

“Then until something changes, we treat the risk as unknown.”

Stella exhaled and turned toward the windows.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’d rather move you somewhere that isn’t the address police, Bellacorte’s staff, and anyone who can connect you to the booking already knows.”

She turned back to me.

“Where?”

“A secure place in the Mill District.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“I’m not disappearing indefinitely because you say so.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

She went still.

I rested my forearms on my knees.

“I’ll tell you what I think is safest. You decide whether you’ll do it. If you decide against something, I need you to understand the risk you’re accepting. That’s the arrangement.”

Stella studied me for a long moment.

“You always work like that?”

“When the person I’m protecting is capable of making her own decisions.”

“And if you think I’m making a bad one?”

“I’ll tell you.”

“You won’t lock me in a bunker?”

“Not unless the bunker comes with very good legal paperwork and you’ve signed it.”

Her mouth twitched again.