Chapter 3

I waited until Julian left the main room, off to make some "important call."

Lena was humming, a little tune, rearranging flowers on a table.

"Lena, we need to talk."

She turned, annoyed. "What is it, Alex? Can't it wait?"

"No. It can't."

I laid it out, kept my voice even. Her unprofessionalism, the risks she was taking, us.

"What about us, Alex?" she asked, her eyes cold.

"I thought... I thought we had something. A future."

She laughed then, a harsh, ugly sound.

"A future? With you?" She looked me up and down, like I was something she' d scraped off her shoe.

"Don't be ridiculous, Alex. You think I' d ever be with someone like you?"

Her words hit harder than any bullet.

"Julian," she said, her voice softening, "Julian is everything you're not. He's refined, he's going places. What are you? A grunt. A good one, sure, but still just muscle."

The door opened. Julian stood there, a smirk playing on his lips. He'd heard.

"Everything alright, my dear?" he asked Lena, ignoring me.

"Perfectly fine, Julian," Lena said, smiling brightly at him.

Later, Julian found me alone on the terrace.

"Tough break, Ryder," he said, leaning on the railing. "But you can't blame her. Some women want more than... well, whatever it is you offer."

He pulled something from his pocket, tossed it in the air.

My stomach dropped.

It was our challenge coin.

Custom-made. From that op in Marrakech, where I' d dragged her out, bleeding, under heavy fire. I' d saved her life. She' d designed it herself. "For my partner," she' d said. "Always."

Julian examined it. "Lena said this was just some old trinket. Thought I might like it. It' s got a certain... heft."

He flicked it. It spun, catching the city lights.

A piece of my past, of what I thought was real, given away like trash.

Lena had given it to him.

Carelessly.