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I a to tell that to Joe

I have my own card key now, and I use it to call Damien’s private elevator I ride up with no plan other than crawling into Dao I want to feel close to hier To breathe in the scent of him

I want to make a memory of him, because I am about to sacrifice him in order to save hih, and I see no other way I can’t tell hih with it Might actually let her release those photos thinking so me But I was in Germany with him, and I watched him break And now that I’ve seen the photos myself, I am even more certain that those pictures plastered across the tabloids would destroy him And every time he looked at me, he would see the reason for that intrusion into his life Even if he could dig hie between us And I would rather walk away now than see our relationship shatter under the weight of soo to the police, but hoould that help? Then there would be more people aware of the photos and more risk that they are made public

Even if I could tell him, so what? Could he convince Sofia not to release the photos? Maybe But then he would live with that threat hanging over him for the rest of his life, and I do not want that for him or for us

And would he even try to convince her? Or would he si whatever he had to in order to eliminate a threat? If what Sofia says is true, he killed Richter to protect her Would he eliminate Sofia in order to protect himself? Me? Our relationship?

I honestly don’t know And, frankly, that scares me, too

So I will do what I must I will end it And then, solides to a stop and I quickly wipe away the tears that have spilled, just in case one of the staff is in the apartment The doors open and I enter I drop e room

I stop short theon the floor carefully lifting a fra box "Well, hello," he says with a wide, welco two presents today"

I suck in air, recognizing the i out It is the black-and-white photograph of the mountains at sunset, and I watch, frozen, as he pulls it out, gazes approvingly at it, and then reads the inscription on the back, neatly printed above the artist’s signature: To Damien, the sun will never set on our love Yours always, Nikki

I have to fight not to burst into tears

"It’s beautiful," he says to ainst the back of the couch and co?"

"Hoas Chicago?" I ask, postponing the inevitable

"Productive" He takes my hand and leads me around to the couch "I was able to convince David to talk to rees that Sofia doesn’t need to be out on her own She has too many issues, and without herhiree one hundred percent