James POV
I'd sat across from difficult men my entire career.
I knew how to read a room.
What I didn't know how to read was the woman sitting beside me, close enough that I could feel the tension she was carrying in her shoulders.
The Meridian lobby was designed for exactly this kind of conversation. High ceilings. Marble floors. The particular hush of a room where money moved quietly and nobody asked too many questions.
Marcus was already inside when we arrived, seated near the entrance. He stood when he saw us, his eyes moving to Rose beside me with the brief recalibration of a man adjusting to new information.
“You're both here,” he said.
“Change of plan,” I said.
“Holt moved the meeting forty minutes forward without explanation,” Rose said, “He already changed the terms."
Ma
