Chapter 3 - A Queen Has to Choose Her Own Crown
By sunrise, Anna had slept forty-three minutes.
Not consecutively.
Leon's penthouse had six guest bedrooms, three living rooms, a gym, an office larger than Benny's diner and absolutely no place where Anna felt comfortable enough to close her eyes.
Her mother had no such problem.
Rosa Morales slept like she'd paid the mortgage.
Mateo spent an hour interrogating Nico about security cameras before falling asleep on a sofa with his shoes on.
Anna remained at the kitchen island drinking coffee she had made herself because Leon's espresso machine had too many buttons.
At six fifteen, Leon entered wearing black trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
No jacket.
No tie.
He looked less like Grayhaven's feared king and more like a tired businessman.
Almost.
"You didn't sleep."
"Neither did you."
"I asked first."
"No, you made a statement."
Leon poured coffee.
"Why do conversations with you feel like cross-examinations?"
"Maybe because everyone else says yes too quickly."
That made him pause.
"Probably."
Anna watched him.
"What happened to the man?"
"His name is Calvin Rusk."
"The gray coat?"
"Yes."
"He going to live?"
"Probably."
"Did your people hurt him?"
"No."
She studied his face.
"You're telling the truth."
"Surprised?"
"A little."
Leon sat opposite her.
"Contrary to folklore, I don't spend my mornings ordering people thrown into rivers."
"Afternoons only?"
He almost smiled.
"Rusk worked for my father."
Anna's amusement faded.
"Doing what?"
"Financial operations. He disappeared after my father's death."
"And now he's back."
"Apparently."
"Why?"
"I intend to ask him when he's conscious."
Anna traced a circle around the rim of her mug.
"What was your father like?"
Leon looked toward the windows.
"Dangerous."
"That's not really an answer."
"It was his favorite answer."
She waited.
Leon eventually continued.
"Mateo Varela built everything from nothing. He arrived in Grayhaven with eighty dollars, no English and a willingness to work harder than everyone around him."
"You sound proud."
"I am."
"But?"
Leon looked down.
"But he believed fear lasted longer than love."
Anna thought of her father.
"Sometimes fear lasts too long."
Leon understood.
He didn't ask for details.
She appreciated that more than she expected.
At eight, Nico entered carrying a laptop.
"We found something."
He placed it between them.
"Meridian Urban Development reactivated five years ago using offshore filings."
Leon frowned.
"Authorized by whom?"
"Digital signature says you."
"I didn't sign it."
"That's the problem."
Nico opened another document.
"There are transfers from Varela River Logistics to Meridian. Forty-seven transactions in three years. Total value, eighty-six million."
Anna whistled.
"I got stressed over a twenty-dollar overdraft fee yesterday."
Leon ignored her.
"Who approved internal releases?"
Nico hesitated.
"Marco."
Leon became silent.
Anna noticed immediately.
"Who's Marco?"
"My uncle."
The only surviving brother of Leon's father.
According to Nico, Marco Varela had managed portions of the family businesses for twenty-two years.
He had helped raise Leon after his father's death.
He sat on boards.
He handled political relationships.
He knew every weakness in the empire.
And his authorization appeared on thirty-nine of the suspicious transfers.
"Could his signature be forged too?" Anna asked.
"Possible," Leon said.
"But you don't believe it."
Leon didn't answer.
At eleven that morning, Marco Varela walked into the penthouse.
Anna knew instantly who he was.
Same dark eyes as Leon.
Same controlled posture.
But where Leon's power came from stillness, Marco's came from charm.
He entered smiling.
"My nephew."
Leon didn't return the smile.
"Uncle."
Marco embraced him anyway.
Then his attention moved toward Anna.
"And this must be the famous waitress."
Anna crossed her arms.
"Famous already?"
"Grayhaven hasn't stopped talking about you."
Her stomach dropped.
"What?"
Marco pulled out his phone.
A blurry video from Benny's Diner had spread across social media.
Someone had recorded Anna pointing at Leon.
There was no audio in the first clip.
The caption read:
WAITRESS STANDS UP TO GRAYHAVEN'S LION.
Another angle included sound.
Shout at me again and I'll burn your empire down.
Millions of views.
Anna stared in horror.
"Wonderful."
Mateo appeared behind her.
"You're trending."
"I'm going to die."
"Technically you're famous."
"I'm going to kill you first."
Marco laughed.
"I like her."
Anna looked at Leon.
"He smiles more than you."
"Most serial killers do," Leon replied.
Marco's smile weakened.
Good, Anna thought.
Interesting.
Leon gestured toward the office.
"We need to talk."
The two men disappeared.
Anna immediately turned to Nico.
"How much do you trust Marco?"
"Enough to avoid answering that question."
"That little?"
Nico's expression became serious.
"Enough to know Leon considers him family."
"Those aren't the same thing."
"No."
Anna thought of the ledger.
Rusk.
The forged signature.
The timing.
"Can I see the transaction list?"
Nico hesitated.
"No."
"Because Leon said so?"
"Because you're a waitress."
Anna's stare sharpened.
Nico raised his hands.
"That sounded bad."
"Really?"
"What I mean is, you're not trained in forensic accounting."
"My mother kept a household alive on eighteen thousand dollars a year after my father left. I learned forensic accounting at the grocery store."
Nico laughed.
Then, to her surprise, turned the laptop.
"Five minutes."
Anna studied the payments.
Most meant nothing.
Then she noticed something.
"Wait."
"What?"
"These dates."
"Yes?"
"They're Wednesdays."
Nico frowned.
"Most transfers?"
"Look."
She pointed.
Every few weeks, payments moved late Wednesday nights.
Always between 11:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.
"What's special about Wednesday?"
Nico's face changed.
"Board reporting closes Thursday morning."
"So whoever moves the money does it after the weekly accounting snapshot but before the next cycle?"
Nico stared at her.
"You're not just a waitress."
"Tell that to everyone who tips eleven percent."
Leon and Marco returned.
Marco noticed the laptop.
"What's this?"
Anna answered.
"Your transfer schedule."
His gaze moved toward her.
For half a second, charm disappeared.
There it was.
Cold calculation.
Then the smile returned.
"You have an observant employee, Leon."
"She's not my employee."
"Yet."
Anna disliked that word.
Marco's eyes dropped to the video still on Mateo's phone.
"Though the whole city seems to think she's something else."
Leon went still.
"What does that mean?"
Marco shrugged.
"You know Grayhaven. Give them a powerful man and a beautiful woman arguing and they'll invent a romance before breakfast."
Anna nearly choked.
"There is no romance."
Marco looked amused.
"Of course."
Leon said nothing.
Which somehow made it worse.
After Marco left, Anna confronted him.
"You could have denied it."
Leon looked genuinely confused.
"Denied what?"
"The internet insanity."
"I don't comment on gossip."
"Apparently you should start."
"Why?"
Anna held up her phone.
Someone had edited the diner video with dramatic music.
Another account called her THE WAITRESS WHO TAMED THE LION.
"I did not tame anybody."
Leon leaned closer.
"What does that caption say?"
"Nothing."
He took the phone.
Anna tried to grab it.
He held it beyond her reach.
"Leon."
His eyes moved over the screen.
Then he laughed.
Actually laughed.
Anna stared.
It changed his entire face.
Younger.
Warmer.
Dangerously handsome.
She hated noticing.
"Give it back."
"I look good in that picture."
"Your ego needs its own apartment."
"It has one."
She snatched the phone.
Their hands touched.
The laughter disappeared.
Neither moved.
Something shifted between them.
Quiet.
Electric.
Anna stepped backward first.
"No."
Leon frowned.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"Your face was."
"My face doesn't talk."
"It absolutely does."
"What was it saying?"
Anna opened her mouth.
Then realized she'd trapped herself.
Leon stepped closer.
"Anna?"
Her pulse accelerated.
"That you think this is funny."
"I don't."
"Good."
"I think you're terrified of something."
She looked away.
"You're imagining things."
"Am I?"
He lowered his voice.
"You threatened to burn down everything I've built, but you're more afraid of me standing six inches away."
"Because bullets are simpler."
That wiped away his amusement.
"That's a terrible answer."
"It's an honest one."
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Leon stepped back.
Respectfully.
The distance somehow affected her more.
"I won't touch you unless you ask me to," he said.
Anna's throat tightened.
He meant it.
She nodded.
"Good."
Nico entered before the moment could become anything else.
"Leon."
He held another envelope.
"No return address."
Inside was a single photograph.
Anna walking home from the diner two weeks earlier.
Red marker had been drawn across her chest.
On the back:
THE LION CAN'T PROTECT WHAT HE REFUSES TO OWN.
Anna's blood chilled.
Leon read it twice.
Then tore the photograph in half.
"No."
Nico frowned.
"No what?"
Leon looked at Anna.
"Someone wants me to make you visibly important."
"Why?"
"Because then hurting you hurts me."
Anna understood.
"This is bait."
"Yes."
"So what do we do?"
Leon looked toward the city.
"We disappoint them."
An hour later, the plan changed.
A reporter appeared outside Varela Tower.
Then twenty.
Someone leaked the existence of the shooting and claimed Anna was Leon Varela's secret girlfriend.
By evening, photographers surrounded the entrance.
Anna stared at the television.
"This is insane."
Leon stood behind her.
"It's intentional."
"Marco?"
"Maybe."
"Rusk?"
"Maybe."
"The mystery villain?"
"Definitely."
Anna turned.
"What happens when I leave?"
Leon didn't answer.
She understood.
Cameras would follow.
Enemies would follow.
Her family would become targets.
Anna sat slowly.
"For how long?"
"Until I know who's behind it."
"Days?"
"Maybe."
"Weeks?"
"Possibly."
Anna rubbed her temples.
"I need my job."
Leon crouched in front of her.
Not commanding.
Not looming.
Meeting her eye level.
"Anna, listen to me."
She did.
"I can't force you to stay here."
"You could."
His jaw tightened.
"Physically? Maybe."
"Exactly."
"But I won't."
Something inside her softened.
Leon continued.
"I can protect you privately, but whoever is doing this has already made you public. If we show fear, they'll push harder."
"What are you suggesting?"
"A controlled appearance tomorrow night."
Anna stared.
"Appearance where?"
"The Grayhaven Children's Hospital gala."
"You want me to attend a billionaire charity party?"
"Yes."
"I own one dress."
"Wear it."
"There's a stain."
"I don't care."
"Everyone else will."
"I care even less."
She almost laughed.
Then she saw the seriousness in his eyes.
"What would I be there as?"
Leon took a long pause.
"My guest."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing you don't choose."
Anna searched his face.
That mattered.
More than diamonds.
More than security.
Choice.
A queen, she thought suddenly, wasn't a woman a king claimed.
A queen was a woman who chose where she stood.
"Fine," she said.
Leon blinked.
"Fine?"
"I'll go."
He began to rise.
Anna stopped him.
"But if you shout at me—"
"I know."
She smiled.
"I burn your empire down."
Leon looked at her.
Then that slow, dangerous smile returned.
May you like
"Anna Morales, I'm beginning to think you actually might."
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