And not because Leo needed rescuing.
They had miscalculated because both of them hated being controlled more than they feared each other.
As the federal car pulled away, Julian returned upstairs.
Workers were already covering the shattered windows.
Detectives had removed the last evidence markers.
Morning sunlight entered through the broken crystal and fell across table 9.
Marcus stood beside the booth.
“What now?” he asked.
Julian looked toward the empty place where Leo had been standing when the first rifle fired.
“Now,” he said, “we find out who thought I was stupid enough to kill the wrong person.”
Then he picked up his untouched glass from the night before.
The ice had melted hours ago.
For once, Julian Moretti did not care.
Somewhere outside Meridian Tower, Leo Vance was no longer pretending to be harmless.
Inside it, the man who had uncovered her secret finally understood why the room full of wolves had never frightened her.
She had spent years learning exactly what wolves did before they attacked.
