Page 75 of The Mourning Throne
Or maybe part of his subconscious knew something he didn’t.
Gabriel’s voice carried through the conference room like a slow bleed.
“—I’ve started preparing my team for the transition,” he said, smoothing down the lapels of his blazer. “But I still believe there are redundancies worth salvaging. We’ve trained our developers to be efficient across markets, not just the U.K.”
Morgan nodded. “We’ll make a full assessment by the end of the week. I’ll take it into consideration, but the final decision isn’t yours anymore.”
Gabriel didn’t argue. He just tightened his mouth into that thin line he wore when pretending to be complacent. He looked like a man who knew he was losing a war but refused to stop polishing his armor.
It didn’t matter.
Dying on the battlefield or crawling away to die in private had the same outcome.
Lex hadn’t said more than three words since they came up the elevator—and none of them were about Ollie. That was always the first sign something was wrong. The second was the way he was vibrating under the surface now, fidgeting with papers they hadn’t touched in days.
Morgan took note of it. Not just the movement, but thesharpnessof it.
Too much chaos behind those blue eyes.
Gabriel wrapped up the last slide and clicked the laptop shut.
“If you’re both happy, I’ll forward all the information before the end of business.”
Morgan stood first. “I’ll check for the email.”
Lex’s smile had the edge of a cracked mask—too wide, too fast, nothing behind it but teeth. Tension radiating off him in waves.
In the elevator, he finally exploded.
“He freaks methe fuckout.”
Morgan loosened his tie. “Who?”
“Gabriel.” Lex leaned against the back wall of the elevator, one leg kicked out, the other tapping like he wasn’t allowed to stop moving. “I said his name four times yesterday and he didn’tblink. Four times—four times! He staredright through me.”
“You do that too, Lex. You get lost in work and it’s a challenge to drag you back to reality.”
“Not—not like that, Morgan. It’s different.”
Morgan didn’t disagree. He just stared ahead at the chrome doors and let Lex wear out some of the energy.
“He looks like Steve, too. Which is even freakier.”
“Barry?” Morgan asked. “I don’t think so.”
“He’s got the same like, patchy stubble and eyes. And nose.”
“You’re looking for problems where there are none.”
“I’mserious, Morgan. Something’s off about him.”
Morgan sighed. “And now you sound paranoid.”
Lex leaned forward, dropping his voice. “What if he’s connected?”
“Connected to Steve? He’s not.”
“Not—not to Steve. Keep up.Kate’s someone.The one she said was alreadylooking for O—ourcat.”
