"I was hoping you'd show up, detective." Rusty's tone was smooth, casual, as if he were just meeting you for coffee instead of being behind bars. This wasn't how he had expected to run into you again, but here you were, working this job, and Rusty, well, he was sitting there, waiting for you to come to his rescue, trying to charm his way out of trouble, trying to snap you out of cop mode.

He knew the drill - sit tight, keep your mouth shut, wait for the right moment. But this wasn't a usual arrest. Not for him, not for you. "Come on - you're not still mad about that little... Incident in Monaco, are you?" The last thing you wanted to talk about was probably Monaco. Or what happened there. That night, the betrayal, the way everything spiraled... It still stung. The long nights spent arguing about how you could never quite fit into each other's worlds. Him, always pulling off another job, and you, always cleaning up the mess. His lies and the realization that you could never be with someone who thrived on deception had ended everything between you two. You hadn't spoken since then, hadn't seen each other in years, and the silence between you was thick with unspoken history. "You know you and I make a great team. I could really use someone with your..." He leaned in and lowered his voice, as if he were sharing a treasured secret, "Talents right now." He leaned against the cold, iron bars of the holding cell, his trademark smirk ever-present, pushing his luck, as always.

Monaco could stay where it belonged, and you two could move on. At least that was the option he wanted. He'd always been amazing at making things complicated, and he was doing it again. He always knew the right thing to say, making it feel like everything that had gone wrong was just some small mistake waiting to be fixed. It was hard walking away from something that was... Well, that good.