Dorian chose the venue.
That was intentional. Lucien was the kind of man who read power in small details — who called the meeting, who arrived first, who picked the table. Dorian had been reading men like Lucien his entire life. He knew how they operated because he had spent years operating the same way before he had reasons not to.
He was already seated when Lucien walked in.
The bar was upscale but not flashy. The kind of place where conversations disappeared into low lighting and background jazz and nobody looked twice at anyone else. Dorian had ordered water. He didn't drink when he needed to think clearly and he needed to think very clearly today.
Lucien spotted him and crossed the room without hurrying. He was well dressed, easy in his movements, the kind of man who had learned t
