8: Leon

Leon watched her through the open window and felt something close to admiration settle in his chest.

Catalina Reyes had walked down the sidewalk like the remaining photographers were an inconvenience she had already decided to ignore. When her eyes had landed on the black sedan, the anger shifted into a mix of recognition and suspicion. She changed direction and came straight toward him.

Most people ran from the things that unsettled them, but Catalina confronted them.

He watched her calmly as she recollected herself before glaring at him.

“You.” She pointed a finger at him. “You turned my life into a fucking disaster. Your people, your questions, your old reward broadcast—whatever you did, it put those cameras on my doorstep. I’ve been trapped inside for seven days because of you!”

Leon smirked, amused at this woman yelling at him in the middle of a street busy with bloggers and journalists scavenging for gossip.

He kept his voice even. “Get in. We can talk somewhere without all this attention on us.”

“I’m not getting in your car.” She stood with her hands on her hips.

“You want answers, and we both want the cameras gone. Both of those things happen faster if you stop standing on the sidewalk giving them more material.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, calculating. Then she opened the door and slid into the back seat beside him. The door shut, and the car pulled away as shutters clicked behind them.

They rode in silence through the morning traffic. Catalina kept her body angled toward the door, watchful. Leon studied the profile of her face without staring openly.

The defiant set of her mouth amused him. The pendant matched more than anything else. He instinctively looked at her chest, but the pendant was missing.

“What happened to the pendant?” he asked, curious.

“Staring at my chest again?” She raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

He smirked and let the topic rest.

The private lounge occupied the top floor of one of his club buildings—an old hotel he had bought and stripped down to build a booming club in the heart of Miami.

A server appeared the moment they stepped inside, showed them to a quiet booth, took their orders, and disappeared again. Leon guided Catalina to the corner booth that faced the room and gave him a clear view of every entrance.

She sat without relaxing.

Her eyes moved around the room, taking in the staff, the dark windows, and the expensive furniture. Leon noticed that she sat like someone who had learned that noticing things could keep her alive.

He did not waste time with small talk.

“Fifteen years ago, I was fourteen. Before my fifteenth birthday, I was involved in a fatal accident that nearly left me paralyzed. I basically spent my birthday in that hospital.” He paused and studied her face.

Catalina stared at him head-on, betraying no emotion on her face.

“I remember pain, nothing else. I was in a coma for months, so I was told. I remember waking up to a second bed in my private room and a young girl lying in it. She didn’t talk much. She just sat and watched me, but she had a silver necklace with a filigree pendant that she always fingered.”

He paused.

“The first time I saw it on your neck, I wasn't thinking straight anymore because it reminded me of…” He shook his head. “Everything is a mess in my head.”

Catalina's eyes dropped briefly before she looked up, staring right at him, but she said nothing.

Leon watched her carefully as he continued.

“I’ve looked for her ever since,” he finished. “When I saw that pendant on you at Verve, it felt like... I finally found what I've been looking for all this while.”

Catalina was quiet for a moment. “And you think that girl was me?”

Leon held her gaze. “I think it’s possible, if you could fill me in on your own part of the story so it all makes sense.”

It was the first time he had allowed the words to sound less certain.

Catalina studied him. Then she shook her head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Leon felt the first real crack form in the certainty he had been building since the night at the club. The pendant was real. The age was close, and the strange pull he felt around her was real too, even if he couldn't explain it. But none of that could force a memory into her mind.

She could be telling the truth.

Doubt settled in beside the instinct as he tried to keep his face from betraying any emotion.

His gaze dropped to her chest again. Even though the pendant was not there, he could still remember the details of the silver pendant. Before he could speak again, his phone rang.

Leon answered without looking away from her. A short exchange, a business matter that would not wait. He ended the call and set the phone down.

“For now, I’ll handle the media and the security problem outside your building,” he said. “You’ll have a driver, a car, and two men. They’ll take you to school, work, or anywhere you need to be, and bring you back. The car will be available when you need it, and the men will stay close enough to protect you without getting in your way.”

Catalina studied him. “And in return?”

“Nothing. You don’t owe me anything.” He smirked. She was smart.

She looked at him as though she hadn't expected that answer.

Leon stood. “I hope I’ll be seeing you soon, Ms. Catalina.”

Catalina stood and looked at him. She nodded.

“Hope your security can run,” she said and started walking out of the establishment.

Leon smirked as he followed her. Catalina was certainly a hothead, and he hoped Steve and Mark could keep up. She was already fast on her heels.

He left and got into his car, leaving her with her chauffeurs. He watched with a smile in the rearview mirror as she sized up the men before entering the red convertible.

The two men knew better than to overstep. He had given them clear instructions that she was not a prisoner.