'Anya, was it? I 've heard

so

much about you. '

She couldn 't escape. People crowded her at all sides, and Anya struggled to breathe, as though all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the atmosphere.

The Director 's cold hand slithered into hers, and Anya recoiled on instinct, but her manicured nails were already pressing into Anya 's wrist, like knives at her throat.

'It 's a pleasure to finally meet you, ' said Melinda, her voice calm and measured, even pleasant to a bystander 's ear, but the pressure of her nails on Anya 's skin conveyed something else entirely.

Blood rushed in her ears, muffling the sound of everything else, even the sound of Damian trying to facilitate the conversation between them both, and Anya tried to pull herself back into her own body but she

couldn 't.