CHAPTER SIX: LEO

Leo sat in the back of the black sedan. Elias drove—silent, efficient, the perfect Omega. The city blurred past. Gray Zone to glass towers. Filth to money. Everyone here knew who Leo was. Everyone moved when he walked.

She hadn't.

Leo reached into his pocket. Pulled out the pen. Broken, useless. He'd taken it from her table without deciding to. Clicked it twice. It still didn't work.

He threw it at the closed window. It bounced off, landed on the seat. He didn't pick it up.

"Elias."

"Sir?"

"The girl from the Pit." "Find out who she is."

Elias glanced in the rearview. "The one who—"

"Yes."

"What for?"

"She didn't know who I was," he said. The words came out wrong. He didn't explain himself. Didn't need to. "Find out everything. Name. Where she came from. Why she's there."

Elias nodded. "Okay sir"

Leo looked out the window. The city moved below him. The pen clicked in his pocket. He didn't remember putting it there.

At the penthouse, he walked past the bar. Past the safe with his collection. Stood at the window.

Looked down.

He didn't sleep.

Morning. Gray light through the penthouse glass.

Elias knocked. Entered with a tablet, set it on the bar.

Leo stood at the window. Same position as last night. He hadn't slept.

"Sir." Elias's voice careful. "You asked about the girl."

Leo turned. Poured coffee. "The one with the boots."

"Yes. I have the file."

"Sit."

Elias sat. Unusual. Leo didn't offer chairs often.

"The name is Ava Hale," Elias started. "Twenty-four. Only daughter of the Hale manufacturing family. Until ten days ago, she was engaged to Ryan Blackwood."

Leo leaned against the bar. Listening.

"The engagement was public. Expected. Two years. Then Blackwood replaced her with Cassandra Vale—old money, better connections. The announcement was made at a party Ava was attending. Public humiliation. She responded by destroying Blackwood's car. Two million dollars. Rock through the windshield. Video went viral."

"She was arrested?"

"No. The Hales paid damages. But her father disowned her that night. Cut her off. No money, no family, no home. She vanished into the Gray Zone. Silas Vane took her in. She's been at his clinic since."

Leo picked up the coffee. Set it down. "Why Silas?"

"Unclear. Old debt, maybe. Or he saw something in her." Elias paused. "She hasn't asked to go home. Hasn't cried. Just works."

"Ryan Blackwood," Leo said. The name flat.

"He's been trying to get under my skin for years."

"Yes, sir. The Top Alpha position. His father lost it to yours. Ryan's mentioned you in interviews. 'The Vane heir who ignores his birthright.' He's tried to sabotage two of your deals last year."

"I ignored him."

"You did."

Leo walked to the window. Looked down at the city. "The gala invitation. Blackwood-Vale. It came last week."

"Yes. You declined."

"I remember." Leo turned. "But now I'm bored, Elias. The last three months—deals, meetings, nothing that moves. Ryan wants me to watch him win. He wants to finally matter to me."

"And?"

"And I want to see his face when I bring his discarded fiancée to his engagement party." Leo smiled. Not warm. Hungry. "Not as my date. As my weapon. She hates him. The way she moved—she'd burn him if she could."

Elias hesitated. "You don't go to gatherings, sir. Social events—"

"Because they're predictable." Leo picked up the pen from the counter. Clicked it. Broken.

"This girl. She doesn't move when you grab her. She tells you to walk. That's chaos, Elias. That's something happening. I want to see what breaks when I put her in a room with Ryan and watch."

"You think she'll agree?"

"She's starving. Not for food. For blood." Leo set the pen down. "I'll offer her the gala. The chance to look down on him. She'll take it. She won't even ask why I'm giving it."

"And if she does ask?"

Leo looked at the pen. "Then I'll lie. Or I'll tell the truth. Either way, she goes."

Elias stood. "Shall I confirm the attendance?"

"Do it." Leo turned back to the window. "And Elias—get me a dress. Not for a debutante. Something sharp. Something that cuts."

"For the girl?"

"Yes."

Elias left. Leo stayed at the window. The city moved below him. For the first time in months, he felt something like interest.

Not in her. In what she could become .

The next afternoon, the Crown & Claw looked poorer in daylight. Smaller. The steel door dented like someone had kicked it.

Leo didn't knock.

Ava stood behind the counter, sorting supplies. She wore new clothes—dark fitted pants that weren't hers, simple gray top that fit too well.

Her hair was down, falling past her shoulders.

Clean. Sharp. The boots were gone. Cheap sneakers, but newer.

She looked up. Froze for half a second. Then:

"Oh." She set down the supplies. "It's you."

Leo walked in. Stopped at the counter. Close enough to smell soap, new cotton, change.

"You look different," he said.

Ava glanced down at herself. Almost self-conscious. Almost. "Do I."

"What happened to the boots?"

"Silas gave me an advance." She straightened.

"Said I earned it."

"Did you?"

"Enough."

Leo studied her. The pants fit her waist now, not Silas's borrowed bulk. The top showed her collarbones, the line of her throat. No jewelry. No need. She looked like she'd stepped out of a different life—not the Hale heiress, not the gutter rat. Something harder.

He reached into his coat. Pulled out a card. Heavy stock, black matte, gold lettering. Set it on the counter. "Tomorrow. Nine AM. Address on the back. Someone will be there."

"For what?"

"To measure you. Dress. Shoes. Everything." Leo leaned on the counter. Close. She didn't step back. "The gala is in three weeks. Blackwood-Vale. Your ex. His new bride."

Ava picked up the card. Turned it over. "You're inviting me."

"I'm taking you." He smiled. Not warm. Testing.

"Ryan expects me to watch him win. I want him to watch me arrive with the woman he discarded—and see she's sharper than the one he chose."

"Why me?"

"Because you don't flinch." Leo straightened.

"Because I saw your face when you talked about him—like you'd burn his house down if you had a match." He paused. "I'm giving you the match, Ava. The dress. The entrance. The crowd. You provide the fire."

Ava set the card down. Leaned on the counter, mirroring him. Close enough that he smelled soap on her skin, saw the faint scar on her jawline she'd tried to cover.

"And what do you get?" she asked. Not soft. Assessing.

"Chaos." He didn't move back. "I've been bored for a few months now. Deals, meetings, men who bend before I touch them. Ryan's been trying to get under my skin for years—small moves, whispers, failed sabotages. I ignored him." He smiled, teeth showing. "Now I want to use his own party to break his teeth. You want revenge. I want to watch something break. We both get fed."

Ava looked at him. Long enough to be rude. Her eyes moved from his mouth to his hands to his eyes. Deliberate. Practiced.

"You don't know me," she said.

"I know you hate him."

"Everyone hates their ex."

"Not everyone picks up a rock." Leo reached out. Touched her jaw, the scar she'd tried to hide. She didn't flinch. "Not everyone stands in my way and tells me to walk."

Her skin was warm. She leaned slightly into his touch—barely, calculated—then pulled back.

"You're strange," she said. "You touch like you're claiming. But you don't know what you're claiming."

"I know exactly."

"No." She stepped around the counter. Close now. Close enough that her shoulder brushed his chest when she reached past him for a suture kit. The touch was accident, except it wasn't. "You know what Ryan threw away. You don't know what I am now."

Leo caught her wrist. Not hard. Enough to stop her. "Show me."

Ava looked at his hand on her. Then up at him. Something moved in her face—not fear, not interest. Recognition. Like she'd found what she was looking for.

"Tomorrow," she said. "Nine AM. I'll be there."

"Will you?"

"I don't break promises." She pulled her wrist free. Slow, deliberate. "Unlike some people."

Leo laughed. Once. Surprised. "That was almost flirting."

"Was it?"

"You tell me."

Ava picked up the card again. Slid it into her pocket. "I tell you nothing."

She turned. Walked to the back room. Didn't look back.

Leo stood in the empty clinic. The space felt larger without her in it. Colder.

In the car, Elias waited.

"She's coming?"

"She's using me," Leo said. He smiled. "I know it. I don't care."

"Sir?"

"She's perfect, Elias. Sharp. Hungry. She touched me like she was counting." He looked at his hand, the place where he'd held her wrist.

"Tomorrow. Get the dress right. I want Cassandra Vale to choke on her own diamonds when she sees it."

Elias drove. Leo watched the city blur past.

He didn't think about the way she'd leaned into his touch. He didn't think about the fact that she'd said his full name—Leo Vane—when he'd never given it.

He thought about the gala. The chaos. The look on Ryan's face.

That was enough.

For now.