SHANE’S POVSilence lay thick between us, tensed to the breaking point like a wire about to snap. The air-conditioning hummed, the only sound in a room suddenly too small for the two egos crammed into it.Caleb followed him inside, closing the door soundlessly and standing with his back against it, a quiet guard. Henrique didn’t notice him, chatting with us as if we were meeting for a cup of tea.“You’ve done well for yourself,” Henrique said, gesturing with his cane toward the city below.“Respectable. It’s clean. Lucy always wanted a clean city.”“State your business,” I said. Even my words were monotone, devoid of any hooks for a conversational lifeline.Henrique pulled out the chair directly across from my desk. He didn’t even wait for permission to sit—just lowered himself into it with a deliberate slowness that belied a man who owned the space around him.“Cold,” Henrique pondered, placing his cane across his lap. “I like that,” he mused. “A man who runs an empire must be cold,”
Last Updated : 2025-11-29 Read more