Page 17 of Fierce Pursuit

I needed to find out. And I needed to find out now.

Once I understood what I was dealing with, I could call Gregor, give him the information he needed, and make things right. But not until Marina was under my protection. Not until I knew I could keep her safe. Not until I finally did right by my late wife.

A familiar ache pulsed in my chest at the thought of Veronika.

Not longing. Never that.

It was anger—hot and sharp. Guilt—cold and corrosive.

A tangled mess of things I had no time to sort through.

And now, something else slithered through the mix.

Something new. Something green and dangerous.

I shoved it down, ignoring the feeling as I made my way up the stairs, searching room by room.

The first was an immediate no.

The walls were covered in posters of alt-rock pinup girls and weed leaves. A cloud of stale incense clung to the air, doing a poor job of covering up the underlying scent of marijuana.

Absolutely not Marina’s room.

I moved on.

The next door opened to something different.

Cozy. Lived-in. A space that felt like a home, not just a place to sleep.

Mismatched furniture held small, carefully placedodds and ends. A wooden chair, worn and rickety, had clothing draped over it; warm, stylish, but visibly secondhand. The kind of pieces someone chose for function rather than indulgence.

It wasn’t messy, but it was cluttered.

Shelves lined the walls, filled with trinkets; pretty, delicate, but not overtly girly. Tchotchkes and knickknacks arranged neatly between stacks and stacks of books, each one stamped with a sticker fromOpen Books, West Loop.

I picked one up, thumbing through the pages until I landed on a dog-eared section.

Explicit.

A sex scene.

Between a young woman and a priest.

What the hell?

This didn’t seem like Marina. Not the girl I remembered.

Doubt crept in. Maybe this was another roommate’s space. Maybe I’d been wrong?—

Then I saw it.

A shawl. Dark emerald-green, woven with a traditional pattern.

The first time I met her, she had been wearing it, and the image had burned itself into my mind. Not because it was expensive but because of the way it made her look. The green had brought out the depth of her eyes and made them glow. The fabric had turned her dirty blonde hair into spun gold under the winter light.

I reached for it without thinking, bringing it to my nose.

Her scent wrapped around me instantly.

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