“Do you have information regarding his whereabouts, Mr. Severin?" she asked unsteadily.
Tom looked directly at her then, the nonchalant mask temporarily falling away. His intense, searching gaze somehow burned through the numbness of the past twenty-four hours. "No, sweetheart," he said gently, as if there where no one else in the room. The deliberate endearment caused a few breaths to catch audibly, including hers.”