could read more, one of his men approached.
Someone had entered the restaurant asking questions.
A woman matching my description.
The man at table 17 closed the folder.
“Stay behind me.”
I almost laughed.
I had spent my entire life trying not to depend on anyone.
But there was something different about his voice.
It was not a promise made to impress me.
It was a decision.
The front door opened.
The person I feared walked inside.
They looked around the room, searching.
Then their eyes landed on me.
A smile appeared.
They thought they had won.
The mafia boss stepped forward and placed the folder on the table between us.
The person chasing me stopped smiling.
Because they recognized the folder.
And they realized the one thing they never expected.
I was not alone anymore.
The evidence inside that folder would expose years of secrets, but the first page revealed something even more dangerous: the person who had ordered my silence had a connection to someone sitting only a few feet away.
The room became completely silent.
The man at table 17 looked down at the document, then slowly raised his eyes.
“You lied to me too.”
