"I missed you!" Luca grinned at her as he leaned on her counter. "Did you miss me?"

"Don't you have work to do?" Alex frowned down at the brown sticks she had been grinding into powder. The scent was just too strong...

"My Sous Chef can hold the fort till I'm done flirting with you," Luca's smile widened even more making Alex roll her eyes.

Having worked with the French-Italian for a week, she knew that behind that playboy facade lay an absolute perfectionist. Even as he grinned like a fool, Alex could see him watching the busy kitchen out of the corner of his eyes. He was testing his staff, letting his Sous Chef take responsibility and watching the goings on in the process.

Yes, it was a pleasure working with Luca despite his seemingly lecherous ways. After their first encounter with the buns, they had fallen into a routine of experimenting with new recipes during the wee hours of the morning. While Luca liked to flirt, he turned into a different man when they were cooking. He was serious, precise and efficient. She liked him best that way.

The early morning arrangement also meant she rarely needed to be in the crowned kitchen which was a great boon. Unless something went wrong, like it had today.

She frowned at the brown spice sticks once more. They had almost perfected a new dish, but the cinnamon they had been using in their recipe did not smell the right.

"When will you agree to a date?" Luca took a step closer, then held up his hands in surrender at Alex's raised brows. "Alright, alright, I know: no touching. But really. You should agree to one meal with me, it will change your life."

Alex snorted at his arrogance then raised a piece of brown bark to her nose. Ah, that was it! "They've been storing the Ceylon cinnamon near Saigon cinnamon, that's why the scent is stronger than it should be. We have to find a better supplier."

Luca reached for the cinnamon she had discarded and sniffed. His face lit with surprise: "There is no way I would have noticed had you not pointed it out. How could you tell?"

Alex shrugged, then placed the bowl she had been working on to the side of her personal workstation. "Once we fix the cinnamon problem the dish should be ready for the menu."

"Alright." Luca nodded, his eye suddenly catching on something he obviously didn't like. "That fool," he muttered under his breath.

"I'll leave you to it," Alex removed her apron, moving to hang it on the hook beside the door.

"Damn, I forgot. Moncrief is at his corner table, he wants to see you," Luca said.

"Wha- why?" Alex asked, turning back to Luca, but the Chef was already across the kitchen, scolding an unwitting saucier for turning his heat up too high.

Gabriel was looking for her? After disappearing for a week, was he finally going to keep his promise to make time for her?

Alex reached for the black baseball cap on the hook beside the door and ran her hands over her green sweater and jeans, brushing at any potential crumbs. Her hands were not as steady as she would have liked, but she put that down to her encounter with the pasta chef in the storage room. The man's ulcer had to be the size of the fist, judging by the amount of pain that had invaded her stomach when they touched and the length of time it was taking to fade away.

Yes, it had to be the pain that had her frazzled. It couldn't be the idea of meeting Gabriel.

Stepping out onto the restaurant floor, she took note of the satisfied look on the customers faces before observing the serving staff. It had not taken her long to realise that many of both the hotel, and restaurant employees had that same bergamot smell as Gabriel and his cousin. She had spent several days observing them and sure enough, just like the members of the cult in Hong Kong, here too they wore their circle markings on earrings and necklaces. None of them, however, had a jagged scar on their hands.

Let it go, Alex reminded herself. She was not here to look for a killer. She was here to find out how Gabriel Moncrief managed to raise the invisible wall which made it possible for her to touch him without feeling his pain. If she could just figure that out, then there was a chance she could use the method in reverse.

To stop feeling the pain of others. To be free to go out in the open without an umbrella, without fear... would she be able to meet James again? Her heart clenched at the thought of the brother she had not seen in years. Don't get excited, it may never happen.

Pushing her stray thoughts aside, she pulled her baseball cap further down her face and started towards the far left corner where Gabriel was waiting. Alex had taken two steps in his direction when a child's scream pierced the air.