Chapter 109

Ezra’s POV

The bar was dim, tucked into the corner of a side street where the city never really slept but pretended to slow down.

The kind of place where you could vanish into the low light and noise, where no one cared who you were or what baggage you dragged in with you.

That was why I picked it.

Alex didn’t belong here, his edges were too clean, his jaw too tight, like he carried his self-control the way soldiers carried their weapons but he showed up anyway, sliding into the booth across from me with a sharpness in his eyes that told me this wasn’t going to be easy.

Good. It wasn’t supposed to be.

“Why the hell am I here, Ezra?” His voice was clipped, controlled, but I could hear the storm beneath it.

I leaned back, pretending to be more relaxed than I was. “Because I asked and because you’re curious, whether you want to admit it or not.”

His glare could’ve cracked glass. “I’m curious about a lot of things, but none of them