Ashley stood a few feet beyond Roman’s Escalade, sweltering and feeling like the human equivalent. Roman still had his seatbelt on. He hadn’t budged from the car. When she realized he wasn’t getting out, she’d had to throw the passenger door open so she could talk to him. “What do you think?” she asked. She sounded squeaky, nervous, which was dumb. Inside the house were two members of her Sunnyvale family. Money didn’t matter to family. They would take her in, even if she was a little sleep-creased and bleary. Possibly a bit smelly. A lot intimidated by the privileged gorgeousness of the neighborhood they called home. Even if she should have phoned ahead to warn them but hadn’t, and even though it was dinnertime, they would welcome her. And besides, what would she have said if she’d phoned anyway? I’m coming to visit so you can help me convince a strange man not to destroy Sunnyvale. Yeah, no. Better to just show up. She had thought. Until she saw their place. “What do I think about what?”
