Page 116 of Twist of Fate

Nothing had changed.

Luke had trusted him to understand.

Connal lifted his gaze to his waiting brothers. “Then we remain ready.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Luke stepped out of the car Tyson had arranged and studied the office building.

Glass. Steel. Cold and polished.

He’d never liked it. That wasn’t new. Everything stood exactly where he remembered it, but now he saw the security differently. His gaze moved over the entrances, camera placements, and carefully controlled sightlines. Before, he’d read the redundancies as corporate paranoia.

Now he saw how easily the building could be locked down.

The security didn’t merely keep threats out. It controlled movement inside, containing everyone behind a polished glass facade. If Hale had built something capable of tracking magic, Luke had to wonder what other purpose those systems served.

He started toward the entrance, searching for any sign of magic. Nothing felt wrong, but that meant very little. Magic didn’t announce itself, and Luke had nowhere near enough experience to recognize it unless someone set it on fire in front of him.

The tracking system could be anywhere. Buried deep within the building. Integrated into technology Luke had walked past a hundred times without understanding what it could do.

The front desk came into view. The guard watched him with the same quiet recognition Luke had seen a dozen times before.

“Mr. Bennett.” As Luke approached, the guard reached for the security panel. “Mr. Hale is expecting you.”

Of course he was.

The panel lit green, and the guard nodded him through. Luke continued toward the elevators without slowing, carrying one question deeper into the building with him.

How much did Hale know?

The elevator doors opened, and Luke stepped inside. He pressed the button for the top floor, then settled against the wall with his hands loose and his shoulders relaxed. Anyone watching would see an employee returning from a meeting, not a man preparing to confront his employer.

The ride lasted less than a minute. When the doors opened again, Luke entered a corridor he’d walked more times than he could count. Clean lines and muted lighting directed attention toward the double doors at the far end—the entrance to his boss’s office.

His body knew the route. This time, Luke made himself notice the details.

The hallway was empty, which wasn’t unusual on the executive floor. The silence was. No footsteps behind the closed doors. No distant conversations or muted sounds of people moving through their workday.

The desk where Patrick normally sat was empty.

Luke slowed when a door farther down the corridor opened. Patrick stepped out with a tablet in hand, looked up, and then stopped.

“Luke?”

The surprise was immediate.

Good.

Luke resumed his usual pace. “Hey.”

“When did you get in? I thought—” Patrick lowered the tablet and frowned. “I didn’t see anything come through. No update, no change to the schedule.”

“My flight got moved up. I didn’t have time to loop back through you.”

“That’s…not ideal.” Patrick huffed out a breath, already recalibrating. “Fine. He’s been asking for updates all morning.”

“I figured.”