The moment Elias Vance walked through the door of the private booth, every person inside did a visible double-take.
It wasn't surprise born of recognition. It was the opposite. They hadn't seen him in so long that when Riley Dawson led someone through the doorway, their first collective thought was a simple, confused who is that? Then, half a second later, realization landed like a stone dropping into still water. That was Elias Vance. The room shifted with a quiet, collective intake of breath, old memories surfacing like sediment stirred from the bottom of a glass. A few people set their drinks down. Someone's cigarette paused halfway to their lips.
Jessica Collins stared at him for a long moment, her gaze traveling from his face to his shoulders and back again, before she lowered her e
