Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
NINE YEARS AGO
Lucía leaned against the low concrete wall, her blouse sticking to her back in the heat. The air tasted like sun-warmed asphalt and smog, but at least up here it was quiet.
She hadn’t meant to come here. She’d just kept climbing stairs, past the top floor, through an unlocked maintenance door, until she’d found the sky.
Her badge hung around her neck, twisted and caught in the neckline of her shirt. Her head still buzzed with numbers, shell corporations, and off-shore trusts, like the code had crawled in behind her eyes and refused to leave.
She heard the door open behind her and didn’t turn.
“You’re not going to jump, are you?” came Mateo’s voice. “Because if you are, I call dibs on your monitor.”
Lucía let out a breath that was half a laugh, half exhaustion.
“Is this where you follow all the interns?”
“Only the ones who correct the trainers mid-presentation,” he said, joining her at the ledge. “That was savage, by the way. You made Calderón visibly sweat.”
“He was wrong.”
“Absolutely. But most of us just pretend not to notice.”
Lucía didn’t smile. “Pretending isn’t one of my skillsets.”
Mateo studied her, then pulled a pack of mints from his pocket and offered one. She took it.
He leaned forward, elbows on the ledge. “You know, I was sure you were going to laugh in my face when I tried talking to you in the waiting room.”
“You didn’t try,” she said. “You did.”
“True. And you didn’t laugh. That was encouraging.”
Lucía glanced sideways at him. “You talk to everyone like this?”
“No. Just the intimidating ones.”
She smiled despite herself. A small breeze lifted the edge of her blouse. The city stretched out before them, thousands of windows blinking in the sun.
“I’ve never worked somewhere like this,” she said. “Everything’s sharp. Cold. Perfectly curated.”
Mateo nodded. “Feels like a place built to break people.”
“That’s comforting.”
“I said ‘feels like.’ Not ‘is.’”
She didn’t reply.
Then he added, voice lower now, “Look, I don’t know how long I’ll last here. But you? You’re going to eat this place alive.”
Lucía dropped her gaze and gave a quick shake of her head. “You don’t know me.”
“I don’t,” he agreed. “But I know what it looks like when someone walks in and already has a bigger game in mind.”
“What does it look like?”
His eyes roamed all over her face. There was something tender in his expression, something that made her think he was about to cross an invisible line between them.
Her stomach clenched, and she groped blindly for a response to have ready, something that would put him off…
or maybe encourage him. She hadn’t made up her mind yet.
She felt suddenly unprepared for this moment, like she was about to be asked a question by a teacher when she hadn’t done the reading yet.
But just as he opened his mouth, the door behind them opened and Javier stepped onto the rooftop. He didn’t look surprised to see them.
Lucía froze.
“Castillo,” Javier said coolly, his eyes barely flicking to Mateo. “Back to your station.”
Mateo stiffened. “Yes, senor.”
He threw Lucía a glance—brief, but cautious—then left without another word.
When the door closed behind him, Javier crossed the roof in slow steps, hands in his pockets. “I didn’t realize the break schedule included off-grid locations,” he said.
Lucía swallowed. “I needed air.”
“This isn’t the air you want to breathe in this city,” he said. “Too full of exhaust.”
She said nothing.
Javier moved to the ledge beside her, close enough for her to feel the presence of him. Not touching. Just…close.
“You’re settling in well,” he said. “Your numbers are already outperforming second-years.”
“Thank you.”
“Castillo’s clever, but distracted. He lacks discipline. You don’t.”
Lucía’s throat was dry. “He’s kind.”
“Kindness has its uses. So does ruthlessness. You’ll learn the difference soon enough.”
She didn’t look at him, but she could feel his gaze. It seemed to touch her skin like a hand. It wasn’t appraisal. And it wasn’t desire, not exactly.
It was possession.
“I should go back in,” she said quietly.
He stepped aside, just enough for her to pass.
She did. But as she reached the door, he said softly behind her, “Watch the company you keep, Lucía. Not everyone is who they pretend to be.”
She turned. He wasn’t looking at her anymore, just at the skyline.
The moment hung there like smog. Then she stepped through the door and let it close behind her.