A silver Mercedes rolled into the Marriott's parking garage downtown right at 3 PM – exactly when Thomas Romano wanted. Sophia Chen was behind the wheel, a little shaky, watching the older guy get out of a black car a few spaces down.
Thomas looked every bit the big-shot businessman at 68. Perfect silver hair, an expensive suit hiding how frail he was getting, and a gold watch catching the light. But Sophia knew how to read the coldness in his eyes – so different from Elena's warm ones.
"You look awful," he said as they sat down in a quiet corner of the hotel restaurant. "When did you last sleep?"
"Kind of hard when your life's falling apart," Sophia shot back, stirring sugar into coffee she didn't even want. "They had breakfast together this morning. All three of them. Like some perfec
