“No.”
I blink. “What?”
“No.”
“But—”
“The answer is no. If that’s all, I have other pressing matters.”
I stare at him, stunned. “Why?”
He sighs like I’m a child asking for another bedtime story.
“Lina left, Axel. She leftyou. If she wanted to be here, she would be. When are you going to grow up and let this go?”
“She left because shehad to, not because she wanted to.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I stare at him, and for the first time, I’m not sure there’s even a shred of the man I once looked up to left in there.
“She loved you too, you know,” I say, voice quiet.
He laughs. It’s cold and humorless.
“She didn’t, but I’m fine with that. I’ve accepted it. You should, too. Some things need to stay buried.”
Realizing I’ve lost this round, I rise from the chair and head to the door, but I just can’t help myself. I need the last word.
“She was yours, Johnny. We know it. You know it. We were just too selfish to let her go.”
I pause in the doorway and toss the final knife over my shoulder.
“Bad men love to own and break beautiful things,” I say, voice calm. “No one taught me that better than you.”
I knock once on the doorframe and walk out, leaving only silence behind.
Chapter 7
Johnny
On the outside, I’m cool and calm.
On the inside? I’m a fucking inferno.
He’s late. And testing my patience.
I grip my beer bottle just to keep from drumming my fingers. Every expression means something. I make a living by controlling mine. Mimicking. Manipulating. It’s all a performance, and a damn good one. Makes the difference between life or death, most of the time. So, I sit here, perched on a grimy barstool in some hole-in-the-wall dive, acting my ass off. Just call me Henry Cavill.
Tonight’s look? Low effort. Black hoodie, ripped jeans. No slacks. No leather loafers. I prefer the finer things, but I’d get my ass jumped in this place if I rolled up dressed like wealth.
Finally, my contact walks in, and I spot the second he sees me. He makes a beeline for the stool beside mine.
Internally, I sigh. He’s about as subtle as a Molotov cocktail.
The man slides into the seat and flags the bartender. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
She sets a bottle in front of him, then disappears. My presence usually clears a radius. Aura of ‘fuck off’ and all that.
