Never in his life had Nicholas Bennet run faster or avoiding more obstacles, but it took him only a second to get through the corridor, through the living room, and to the door. His mother looked at him reprovingly and pushed the morning paper against his chest.

“You weren't planning to invite me? Or were you already sure I wasn't going to come?” asked Leyla, walking past him and into his apartment. “Because let me tell you something, I'm not going to that circus!”

Nick opened the newspaper an