Page 35 of His Untouchable Heart

"You, okay?" she inquired. "Your expression gives it away."

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out my phone, and held it up so she could see the photo on the screen. Her jaw tightened as she took it in.

“I was afraid he had a picture. Otherwise, with the security footage erased, he wouldn’t have any leverage against me,” she said, setting her mug down.

“There was a message, too. Said if you don’t follow through with his request, he’ll make this photo public.”

Gabrielle arched an eyebrow. “At first, I thought he was bluffing. But now I’m not so sure.”

I crossed the room and set my phone on the counter beside her. “He knows how to stir up just enough chaos to make Judge Valencia second-guess us. Even if the fallout doesn’t stick, the stink will.”

She exhaled slowly, then stood and walked to the window. “It’s fine. Juliette will help us with this. But I wonder who erased the security footage. Curtain said it was gone. There may be another piece of this puzzle floating around out there.”

She stood there for a moment, silent, her arms folded as she stared out at the trees beyond the glass. I could tell her mind was already working through the angles, forming a strategy. That’s what we did—solve problems and stitch chaos back into order. But this one had teeth. Before we went any further, I needed to explain that the extra puzzle piece was me.

“I need to tell you something,” I said. “I deleted the gallery footage. The part from the night that photo was taken. He won’t be able to get anything else.”

Gabrielle turned, eyes narrowing, not with anger—but calculation. “You erased it?”

“I did. Before security or anyone else could see it.”

The corner of her mouth lifted. “The archivist in me is horrified.”

“But the woman standing here?”

She stepped in close, fingers sliding around my waist. “Thanks. I guess I was secretly hoping the cameras were off or something. I couldn’t bear to face the truth.”

I leaned in and kissed her—slow, deliberate—the kind of kiss that settled things without saying a word.

We both knew it now: whatever came next, we were in this together.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “Your place. If that’s okay, I need to keep you safe—and now your sister too. Curtain’s probably watching the gallery… maybe even watching you.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Then what are we waiting for?”

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

Gabrielle

“I’m just saying!”

Juliette’s voice buzzed in my ear as I stepped down the jet’s narrow stairs, “If this turns into another lecture about keeping my blinds closed at night, I’m hanging up.”

“I’m not lecturing you. I’m just asking you to meet Anthony and me at the campus café before you go home.”

Juliette sighed; it was the kind that carried a thousand eyerolls. “You’re back already?”

“We just landed.”

I was careful on the last step in heels that weren’t designed for tarmac landings. I glanced over my shoulder as Anthony followed, his suit jacket slung casually over his arm, calm as ever despite the soupy Miami air pressing against us like a second skin.

“Thirty minutes?”

“Fine. I’ll be there. But I’m ordering something with three shots of espresso if we’re doing this.”

“Deal,” I said and hung up.

The blast of humidity hit harder once I started walking, like Miami was trying to melt me on principle. My hair, pulled into a low twist, already threatened to rebel. I adjusted the strap of my bag and headed toward the small private terminal lot. My old sedan was where I had left it, sticking out like a sore thumb between two sleek black town cars.

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