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“Not that I can tell” Her yellow-green eyes clouded over, dark brows pinched together above her pert nose It was cruel that a women could look so beautiful with a face full of storm clouds

He listened intently, but only Rose’s quickening breath broke the silence He holstered his pistol and watched her for a moment

Max turned to inspect the closet by the entrance It wasn’t built into the wall, but it appeared to be bolted against it for stability The door was ajar

Inside, a black coat hung beside its gray twin A pair of snow boots and two pairs of black high heels sat on the floor He bent down to inspect a storage box that had been opened

“Do you keep anything valuable in here?” He turned, expecting to see her behind him But she wasn’t there “Rose?”

A crash in the kitchen sent a jolt of adrenaline through hih the apartment, his boots heavy and loud on the wooden floor Each sense was focused, his eyes capturing and assessing every detail

“Rose!” He drew his pistol

So hard connected with his shoulder as the intruder sprinted toward the front door in a blur of black Max quickly regained his footing, but the person was gone in an instant Max burst out onto the street only to find the intruder had vanished into thin air

A lady walking her dog peered at hi, her head down Max slammed his hand down on the brick letterbox as he stalked back into the house, holstering his weapon

“Are you okay?” he called out as he jogged through the doorway

Rose sat on the ground, her eyes wide and her breathing erratic Chest heaving, she stared up at hiround in front of her and inspected her face for cuts and bruises Thankfully, she appeared to be shocked but not seriously hurt

“I carabbed ht red spot under one eye and winced

“Did you see his face?”

“It all happened so quickly He was tall and had dark hair That’s all I saw after he pushed me over” She sed “Oh, he had a tattoo on his neck”

“Of what?”

She bit her lip “So blacka spade, I think”