Billionaire by Day, Protector by Night
At this hour, it held only ghosts and insomniacs: a tired waitress refilling coffee, a trucker eating eggs at the counter, and Dante Salvatore sitting alone in a corner booth.
He looked different than he had at the center or the restaurant. Less polished. His suit jacket was gone, his shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms marked with scars that looked too deliberately placed to be accidents. His hair was disheveled like he'd been running his hands through it, and shadows pooled under his eyes.
He looked, Elena realized with a start, almost human.
"Thank you for coming," he said as she slid into the booth across from him. A cup of coffee sat in front of him, untouched and probably cold.