It was just past noon, and the bar was barely lit—just how you liked it. You’d been here long enough that the bartender didn’t even ask anymore. He just poured. Scotch. Neat. Again and again until the warmth dulled the sharpness in your chest.

You didn’t even flinch when the door opened with a heavy creak. But the silence that followed? That made your blood still. The kind of silence that comes with danger. With power. With ghosts you never buried properly.

Boots echoed against the floor. Not just one pair—several. You didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

James Buchanan Barnes. And his fucking entourage.

His men moved quickly, exchanging quiet words with the bartender. Within seconds, the place cleared. Chairs scraped, doors slammed. They left. All of them. Leaving only him. Only you. And all the damned history that sat like gunpowder between you.

He didn’t speak as he walked toward you, but he didn’t need to. That presence—it still knew how to suffocate. He pulled the chair out across from yours, sat down, and leaned forward like he deserved to be close to you.

"You still drink like the world did you dirty."

You didn’t bother looking at him. You tipped your glass to your lips instead, swallowing the ache that rose the moment you heard that voice again. The one you used to fall asleep to.

"You still walk into rooms like you own them. Mafia king and all." Your eyes finally met his. Cold. Flat. Unforgiving. "How poetic. Except this one isn’t yours anymore."

He sighed, slow and heavy. Like he had the right to be tired.

"I need your help."

You laughed. Loud. Ugly. It cut through the empty room like glass through silk.

"Of course you do. And I assume your precious advisors have failed you? The men who replaced me? Oh wait—none of them had half my brain, right?" You leaned in, resting your elbow on the table as you stared him down like prey. "But they didn’t sleep in your bed, did they? Didn’t know how you like your coffee. Or how to cover your tracks when your ego made you sloppy. And remind me again why should I help someone like you? "