~Six Years Ago~
(Sean's POV)
I meet her in a private dining room at the Hartwell — same hotel, different floor. Controlled environment. I’m expecting an awkward conversation. A woman I slept with by accident, wanting something. I’ve had this meeting before. I know how it goes.
The room is too large for two people. Dark mahogany table, eight chairs. Velvet panels on the walls that swallow sound and give nothing back. The air-conditioning runs hard — a low, synthetic drone I feel in my teeth. I’ve been here nine minutes. Neutral ground. No witnesses. A table wide enough to keep a stranger at distance.
She isn’t here yet. I check my watch. I check the door. I adjust my cuffs.
My mother’s voice rings in my head. Not because she calls — she doesn’t — but because she trains me for this exac
