pte

the Sna

exhale. Sunlight streamed through dust flecked windows of the Sapphire Lounge, but i

er mind. Her rhythm faltered-not from fatigue, but because she knew something had change

had re

the space between beats-where messages are passed without words. Rebecca noticed. She saw Sophia's pause, the falter in her usually fluid performance. It wasn't

he force, his reputation was a storm cloud-powerful, unpredictable, and always moving toward something. His marriage had crumbled under the weight of the job,

rely tolerated him. But everyone respected

ers shaking only slightly as he r

en is dancing. The k

"Let the dam

same words hours earlier to Forlan an underground fixer with a Rolodex of sins and favors. Kelvin knew

sence was commanding, unapologetic. Sophia froze again-this time, her mas

ancing?"

iding?" s

nd graze Sophia's just enough to suggest intimacy, too little to prove anything. She k

Kelvin aside. "He's push

n't stop the dance. We watch. If sh

wing like a cape in the stale air. Heads turned. Convers

aw him and sighed, as if she'd been w

," Fred

ogne to hide the ro

pped between them, more for

ed on Sophia. "You

. "Aren't they the sa

everyone. Becau

file. "Your name came up

os. A warehouse. An execution

to protest, but the look in

, or how you danced. But someone's burning this cit

once. "Let th

ises: The 3

gas leaking from an untended valve, it poisoned the a

her eyes betrayed distraction. Rebecca, watching from the shadows, caught the tremble in her f

Fred didn't just return they re-entered like detonations. Every glance he exchanged with Sophia w

screamed. He watched Sophia with the intensity of a predator, and when he finally spoke, his voice was

changed shape around him. Conversations died, shoulders

muel stared down the ghost of an old case and t

the threads of past mistakes, buried

a problem was about to