“You expect me to believe you?” she asks, taking another bite. “After the stunt you pulled two years ago? After you vanished?”
Vanished. That’s one word for it.
Exiled is the one the Guild prefers.
Framed is the one that ruined us.
I study her face—the tightness around her eyes, the grief she refuses to look at. She isn’t asking for truth. She’s asking if she’s a fool for still wanting it.
“Believe what you want,” I say quietly. “But the reason I disappeared is the same reason you’re sitting across from me now.”
She tries to hide the flinch. Fails.
“Don’t,” she whispers. “Don’t pretend we’rethe same.”
“We are the same,” I murmur. “We were framed. Both of us. Different jobs. Same architect.”
She goes still. No breath, no blink.
There it is.
The shock. The cut. The crack. She can’t deny there could be truth to it.
But she recovers fast—always faster than I expect.
“If you know who set me up,” she says, “say it.”
“I will,” I tell her. “When you agree to work with me.”
She scoffs. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I know.” I drop the napkin, test my nose and it’s not bleeding anymore. “But I’m also right.”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re stalling.”
“I’m negotiating.”
“You’re hiding something.”
“So are you,” I say. “But it doesn’t matter. We have a common enemy. The Guild wants us both dead.”
Her laugh is humorless. “You think that earns you trust?”
“No.” I lean forward, lowering my voice. “But it earns me five minutes of your time. And I plan to use them well.”
“I don’t believe the Guild did this.” Her gaze is a wildfire held behind glass. Dangerous. Beautiful.
Exactly as I remember.
“Then you are naive, Saint James. And naivety won’t survive a single night.”
I wait for the refusal. The insult. The knife.
Instead, she stands up and walks away. “You have two minutes left.”
Same old Saint. Always making me work for it.
I follow her down the length of the train, and, as always,the world moves for her. People take one look and part like tide around rock. When I come through, they suddenly forget how to step aside. I shoulder past a businessman who huffs. Pathetic.
