CHAPTER 26: Mirabella's POV
I should have told somebody I was meeting with him. The brass bell above the café door jingled as I stepped inside, the quiet hum of conversation washing over me. The place was nearly empty at this hour, only a few scattered tables, the soft clinking of coffee cups, low jazz humming through the speakers.
But Max was already here, waiting like the storm cloud he always carried. I began to question what I ever saw in him.
He sat by the window, the streetlights casting a faint glow across his sharp features. One hand curled around a coffee cup, the other resting casually along the back of the chair. His badge wasn’t visible, but I could feel the authority and the threat he carried. Keep it cool Mirabella.
His eyes found me instantly. Pale, calculating, unblin
