Iron Rose

the meeting

---

The morning sunlight had barely begun to warm the city skyline when Aiden stirred awake. He turned over, expecting the bed beside him to be empty, but there she was—Lyra, wrapped in a silk robe, sipping coffee like she hadn’t just flipped his world upside down.

“You’re still here,” he murmured.

She raised an eyebrow over the rim of her cup. “Disappointed?”

“Surprised,” he said honestly. “After last night, I half expected you to vanish like a dream.”

Lyra gave a quiet laugh—low, guarded. “I don’t disappear, Aiden. That was your thing.”

He winced at the jab but nodded. “Fair. That’s why I want to make it right. Let me take you out.”

She tilted her head, studying him carefully. “You want to date me now?”

“I want to apologize. And maybe see if we can start over.”

Her heart twisted. He still had that earnestness in his eyes, the kind that made her forget how many lives she’d taken, how much power she held in the city’s shadows. To him, she was just Lyra—his childhood fiancée, the girl he left behind.

And she intended to keep it that way.

“Alright,” she said softly. “One date.”

He smiled. “Tonight?”

“I’ll send a car.”

He didn’t notice the way her phone buzzed a second later, or how she subtly tilted the screen to the side. A message flashed briefly: Shipment intercepted. Two bodies. Orders?

Lyra swiped it away without blinking, her gaze still fixed on Aiden’s smile.

She had waited ten years for this moment. She wouldn’t let her empire ruin it.

Not yet.

---

That evening, a sleek black car pulled up in front of Aiden’s condo right on time. The driver, dressed in an immaculately tailored suit, didn’t speak a word—just opened the door and nodded.

Aiden raised an eyebrow but said nothing. It felt a bit too polished for a simple dinner date, but Lyra had always had a taste for elegance.

He arrived at the restaurant—a rooftop garden glowing with warm amber lights, surrounded by ivy-covered walls and the soft hum of a live violinist. The skyline stretched out around them, a quiet promise that the city belonged to whoever dared to take it.

She was already waiting at their table.

Lyra looked like she belonged in a magazine—black dress, delicate jewelry, and an air of control that could silence a room. Yet the moment she saw him, her expression softened, if only slightly.

“You clean up well,” she said, sipping from a glass of wine.

“You booked out an entire rooftop for a date,” he replied, sitting across from her. “Are you trying to impress me or intimidate me?”

“Can’t I do both?”

He chuckled, relaxing a bit. “So what have you been doing all these years?”

She leaned back. “Running my company. Expanding into international markets. Keeping busy.”

He nodded, not pushing further. “Still hate chocolate?”

She smiled at the memory. “Only the cheap kind.”

Their conversation flowed easily—old memories, what-ifs, stolen glances. For a while, it almost felt normal. Almost.

But Lyra felt the pressure in every beat of silence. Her phone buzzed once in her clutch. She didn’t check it. She couldn’t risk it. Not tonight.

“You’ve changed,” Aiden said, watching her carefully. “You’re more... guarded.”

“You would be too, if you had enemies in boardrooms and back alleys.”

He laughed. “I run a company, Lyra. I know all about ruthless negotiations.”