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Finding the right wo the scrap for ines he’d ever rebuilt He settled on two dresses, another pair of pants, soned to let the old wo in hand and realising how late he was running, he ducked quickly into the restaurant to pick up the food

The crowds of people heading hoht crept closer, the twininto the sky Each step around another person left Peirce more and o He knew that the apartment was secure and E just felt…off

Skin crawling from unease, Peirce shouldered his way into the apart He was nearly to the elevator Soon he’d be upstairs, safe and eating decent food and watching Eot a load of her new clothes

He heard the brush of fabric and dropped the bags to his sides, hitting a knee and steadying hi back for a swift throw, before he saho it was

“Peirce?” Emmaline squeaked fro

The air left his lungs in a whoosh and he io Old habits were hard to break Worse, he hadn’t hit her A few years ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated Kill first, ask questions later Hesitation like thatold, weak, less than capable

He buried those thoughts and found hie warred for superiority with

in him Eventually, with teson, what the fuck are you doing down here? Didn’t you think Stone ht have the ability to hack security feeds?”

She ed a tremulous smile at his statement, which confused the hell out of him

“I knew you’d say so over there instead of down at the restaurant I didn’t see any ca that way”

She’d found a blind spot Sirl But it was no time for weakness

“You didn’t listen to my orders”

She looked up at hiot locked out of the apartment”

Peirce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling a tension headache co his eyes throb “Grab the food”

She did so without argu that the containers were all still sealed Peirce picked up the bag of clothes, not sure how he’d explain their purchase and punched the call button for the elevator