"I intend to use Sheila as leverage."
The moment those words left Liam's mouth, a stronger gust of wind swept across the rooftop, brushing against the stone barrier and stirring the loose strands of Percy's hair. For a few seconds Percy did not move at all. He remained standing exactly where he was, staring out across the distant cityscape while that single word echoed through his mind.
Leverage.
It reverberated louder than the wind.
Unwanted memories began surfacing almost immediately, dragging his thoughts back to the previous night with uncomfortable clarity. He remembered the way Sheila had looked at him when she finally understood the truth behind his actions. The disbelief in her eyes. The anger. The pain that had been buried beneath years of silence suddenly spilling out in a way he had never anticipated.
More than anything else, he remembered her words.
She had said it plainly.
That in his so-called perfect plan… she had become leverage.
A variable.
