Chapter Two

Brynn

Leo sat across from me, his hands resting on either side of his plate. A stack of pancakes sat in front of him, along with a couple of crispy strips of bacon and some fruit. I had the same, but neither of us was touching the food. It was as if the simple act of eating had become too overwhelming.

I kept stealing glances at him, trying to reconcile the man in front of me with the one I remembered. It had been over twenty years since I’d last seen him. Hell, probably closer to twenty-five. Time had aged him, sure, but as I looked at him, I realized something that took me completely by surprise: Leo was still the most handsome man I’d ever seen.

He had aged like some men do—gracefully, effortlessly, unfairly. His dark hair had turned a silver-gray, streaked with a bit of white at the temples. The short cut only seemed to accentuate the strong lines of his face—cheekbones that still looked chiseled, a jawline that remained defined despite the years. There were more wrinkles now, around his eyes and mouth, lines etched deep into his skin from years of laughter, stress, life. But instead of making him look worn down, they gave him a rugged sort of charm that made him even more striking.

His eyes, though, hadn’t changed. Still the same sharp, piercing blue. The same eyes that had once looked at me with a tenderness I’d never forgotten. Now, they studied me carefully, like he was trying to figure out what I was doing here, why we were sitting together after all this time.

Leo shifted in his chair and his broad shoulders hunched slightly forward as he leaned his elbows on the table. He had kept in shape, that much was clear. His arms were still solid, his chest broad beneath the dark T-shirt he wore. His hands, which rested lightly steepled together, were large and strong, though his skin was rougher now, a testament of the years between us. Everything about him screamed strength, even now, even after all this time.

But there was something else, too. A heaviness in his posture that hadn’t been there before. It was in the slight drop of his shoulders, in the way his brows furrowed whenever he glanced down at his untouched food. There was more than just age weighing on him; there was a burden, a weight that hadn’t been there before.

He cleared his throat and looked up, catching me staring. I felt my cheeks flush and quickly looked down at my plate, stabbing a piece of pancake with my fork, though I had no intention of eating it.

“You look good, Brynn,” he said, his voice low and rough, as if unused to talking like this.

I glanced back up at him, smiling weakly. “You do, too. You really do.”

He let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. “I doubt that.”

I leaned back in my chair, studying him again. “I mean it, Leo. You… you’re still you.”

His eyes softened for a moment, the tension in his face easing just a little. Then his expression darkened again, his brow furrowing as he leaned forward. “I’m not the same man you used to know, Brynn.”

There it was—the pain, the burden I’d seen in his posture. I didn’t know what he’d been through, but I could see it had changed him. Maybe not physically, but there was a hardness in him now that hadn’t been there before. A kind of wariness, a distance.

I sighed, pushing my plate away slightly, knowing I wasn’t going to eat any of it. “None of us are,” I said quietly. “Twenty-five years… It’s a long time.”

Leo nodded slowly, and his eyes were distant. “Yeah, it is.”

For a few minutes, we just sat there in silence. The tension between us was thick and filled with the weight of everything unsaid. There was so much I wanted to ask him and so much I needed to know, but I didn’t know where to start. All those years had passed, and yet here we were sitting at the same table as no time had gone by at all. And I had no idea how to bridge the gap between us.

He finally broke the silence, his voice cautious. “How… how did we end up here, Brynn? What happened after the plane? Why am I sitting here with you?”

“Sig brought you here. He was only a few minutes ahead of Candace.”

Leo tipped his head to the side, his dark eyes narrowing as he regarded me from across the small table. “How do you know about Candace?”

I set my coffee down on the ceramic coaster and studied him as he waited for my answer. Leo hadn’t changed in all these years. He was still the same—used to having the upper hand and always the one with the information. He thrived on control and on being a step ahead of everyone around him.

That wasn’t happening this time.

I leaned back in my chair, letting the silence between us stretch. It wasn’t hard to read the flicker of irritation that crossed his face when I didn’t immediately respond. His jaw tightened just slightly, the way it always had when he was out of his depth. He thought he could hide it behind that carefully constructed mask, but I saw right through it.

“How do you think?” I finally said, tilting my head to meet his gaze. “You haven’t exactly been subtle.”

Leo blinked, his expression carefully neutral, but I could see the wheels turning behind his eyes. He wasn’t used to being caught off guard. He certainly wasn’t used to being on the defensive. Not with me, anyway. He liked to play the role of the all-knowing orchestrator, pulling strings and manipulating situations to his advantage. It used to work on me, once upon a time. But I wasn’t that same person anymore.

“You’ve been watching us,” he said, his voice low, like he was piecing the puzzle together in real-time. “You’ve had eyes on me… on Candace. How?”

There was a faint hint of disbelief in his tone. He didn’t want to believe that I’d managed to get the drop on him. That I could have known more than he did about his own situation.

“Not really,” I replied as I swirled the remaining coffee in my cup before taking another sip. The warmth spread through me and steadied me. “I just pay attention. That’s something you’ve always overlooked, Leo. You’re so busy assuming everyone’s a step behind you that you miss the details.”

Leo’s fingers drummed against the tabletop, a nervous habit I remembered from when we were younger. It was one of the few tells he hadn’t managed to get rid of. He was annoyed. Good. He wasn’t going to steamroll me this time.

“And what details would those be?” he asked, leaning forward slightly. The flicker of challenge in his eyes was impossible to miss. He still thought he could get the upper hand if only he pressed the right buttons.

I allowed myself a small smile, knowing it would frustrate him. “For one, Candace didn’t come here on her own. You brought her into this. You always bring people into your messes.”

His gaze sharpened, a quick flash of something unreadable crossing his face before he masked it again. “I did no such thing. She’s completely unhinged and is coming after me for no reason. Her and her brother are both psychopaths.”

“Were they to begin with?” I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Or did you drive them to it?”

Leo didn’t answer immediately, and I watched as the tension in his jaw tightened. He always did this—deflected, avoided, danced around the real issue until he could figure out how to twist it to his advantage. But I wasn’t going to let him manipulate me like he used to.

“You think you have it all figured out,” he said quietly, his voice deceptively calm. “But you don’t know half of what’s going on. I don’t know how you know what you do, but there is so much more going on.”

I laughed softly, not out of amusement, but because I could see through his words, through his entire act. “That’s where you’re wrong, Leo. I know more than you think. Hell, I probably know more than you do at this point.”

That got his attention. His eyes flickered with something dangerous, something darker than I remembered. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table as he studied me as if trying to unravel the mystery he hadn’t even realized existed. “Is that so?” he said, his tone sharp. “And where exactly are you getting your information, Brynn?”

I smirked. “I have my ways. Maybe I learned a few things since we last saw each other.”

Leo’s expression didn’t change, but I could tell he didn’t like that answer. It bothered him that I wasn’t playing along or falling into the same patterns we always had. In the past, I would have let him take control or let him guide the conversation and manipulate the narrative. But not this time.

This time, I was in charge.

Leo straightened in his seat, fingers still drumming against the table, but his gaze never left mine. “I don’t know what the hell is going on right now, Brynn, but you better start—”

“I’m saving your life, Leo.” My voice came out harsher than I intended, but he needed to hear this. “I’ve been watching Candace, and she’s ten steps ahead of you right now. You just played right into her hand. If Sig hadn’t been there when you landed, you’d be dead. He should’ve taken Apollo, but it was too risky.”

“So instead, you left him there for Candace to find?” Leo spat, his jaw clenched.

I shook my head. “She didn’t get Apollo. Right now, she has nothing.”

“What she needs is a fucking bullet in her head,” he snapped, leaning forward as if to challenge me. “That would be done right now if you hadn’t grabbed me.”

I shook my head again, feeling the tension tighten around us. “Damn, Leo, you really don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

His fist hit the table with a loud thud, rattling the glasses between us. “And how the fuck do you know what I’m dealing with?” his voice thundered, filling the room. “I’ve kept an eye on you all these years. I know what you were doing. You shouldn’t know a damn thing about me, let alone Candace.”

I stared at him, feeling the weight of two decades of silence between us. “And that right there proves that people change, Leo.” My voice was quieter now, but firm. “And it’s especially shocking how much they change when you don’t speak to me for over twenty years.”

I stood slowly, the chair scraping the floor as I pushed it back, looking down at him. The man in front of me wasn’t the same Leo I used to know, and I wasn’t the Brynn he remembered. Too much had happened. Too much had been lost. And the irony was, despite everything, I still wanted to save him—maybe even from himself.

His eyes flickered, the fire of anger dimming for just a second, but I didn’t wait for him to speak. I turned and walked toward the door, the sound of my boots echoing through the room.

The truth was, Leo had no idea how deep he was in. Candace wasn’t just dangerous; she was a force of nature. And if I didn’t stop him from running headfirst into her trap, she wouldn’t just take him down—she’d destroy everything in her path, including anyone close to him.

As I reached for the door, I glanced back over my shoulder. “You don’t have to thank me, Leo. Just try to stay alive.”

With that, I walked out, knowing full well this was only the beginning.