“What did?”
“How easy it was.”
The man held the bottle against his chest.
Ethan continued.
“Someone can fall down ten feet from a room full of people, and everybody waits for someone else to become responsible.”
The stranger nodded slowly.
“My name is Marcus.”
“Ethan.”
Marcus extended his hand.
Ethan shook it.
Marcus’s grip was still weak, but steadier than before.
“Are you homeless?” Ethan asked.
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“You really are direct.”
“Sorry.”
“No. I’m not homeless.”
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you standing outside in this weather?”
Marcus looked down the street.
“I was walking.”
“In a storm?”
“I needed to think.”
Ethan sensed there was more to the answer.
Before he could ask, Marcus reached into his leather jacket.
Briggs appeared at the window, watching closely.
Marcus removed a black smartphone.
The device looked expensive, unlike anything else he carried.
He made a call.
Someone answered immediately.
“Bring everyone here,” Marcus said.
He listened.
“Yes. Carter Street Café.”
Another pause.
“No, don’t come inside.”
Marcus ended the call.
Ethan frowned.
“Who was that?”
Marcus returned the phone to his jacket.
“People who work for me.”
“What kind of people?”
Marcus smiled.
“Impatient ones.”
Several minutes passed.
Then headlights appeared through the rain.
Not one vehicle.
Three.
Black luxury SUVs moved slowly down Carter Street and stopped directly in front of the café.
Their engines remained quiet.
No horns.
No sirens.
No doors opened.
No one stepped out.
The vehicles simply waited beneath the streetlights, their dark windows reflecting the café’s warm interior.
Inside, customers stood from their chairs.
Phones came out again.
Briggs froze near the counter.
Ethan looked from the SUVs to Marcus.
“What is happening?”
Marcus took another drink of water.
His breathing had returned to normal.
“That depends,” he said, “on what happens next.”
Ethan stared at him.
Marcus looked through the glass at Briggs.
The manager’s confidence had vanished.
For the first time that evening, the man who had controlled everyone inside the café appeared uncertain.
Marcus smiled.
But there was no cruelty in it.
Only recognition.
The first SUV door opened after nearly a minute.
A woman in a charcoal suit stepped out carrying an umbrella.
She was in her early forties, with dark hair pulled into a neat knot and a serious expression that changed the moment she saw Marcus seated beside the window.
Two men followed from the second vehicle.
One wore a long black coat.
The other carried a medical bag.
The third SUV remained closed.
The woman hurried across the sidewalk.
“Mr. Reed.”
Ethan looked at Marcus.
The medical officer crouched beside him.
“What happened?”
“Dehydration,” Marcus said.
“You collapsed?”
“Briefly.”
“You were supposed to call us.”
“I did.”
“After you collapsed.”
Marcus glanced at Ethan.
“I had help.”
The woman looked at Ethan’s wet clothes and then at the café window.
“Who is he?”
“The only person who came outside.”
The medical officer checked Marcus’s blood pressure, pulse, and blood oxygen.
“You need to go to the hospital.”
Marcus sighed.
“I need five minutes.”
“You said that last time.”
“This time I mean it.”
The woman in the charcoal suit moved closer.
“Mr. Reed, the board is waiting.”
“Let them.”
“We postponed the meeting twice.”
“They can wait three times.”
Ethan looked toward the SUVs again.
“What board?”
The woman answered before Marcus could.
“Reed Hospitality Group.”
Ethan frowned.
The name was familiar.
He had seen it on signs outside hotels, restaurants, and office buildings throughout the city.
The company owned dozens of cafés, restaurants, and boutique hotels across several states.
Marcus Reed was the founder.
Ethan looked through the glass.
A small gold plaque near the café register read:
OPERATED BY REED HOSPITALITY GROUP.
He looked back at Marcus.
“You own this café?”
Marcus nodded.
“Technically.”
Ethan laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“You let him fire me?”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“I didn’t know he would.”
“You could have told him who you were.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Marcus looked toward the rain.
“Because I wanted to know what he would do if he believed I had nothing.”
Ethan stood.
The medical officer moved back slightly.
“So this was a test?”
“No.”
“You collapsed on purpose?”
“Absolutely not.”
“But you stayed quiet on purpose.”
Marcus nodded.
Ethan’s frustration rose.
“I just lost my job while you sat there waiting to see what kind of person my manager was.”
“You chose before you knew who I was.”
“That’s the point.”
“No,” Ethan said. “The point is you had a choice I didn’t have.”
Marcus watched him carefully.
“You could have stopped it at any moment.”
“That’s true.”
“But you didn’t.”
The woman in the charcoal suit stepped forward.
“Ethan, Mr. Reed—”
Marcus raised one hand.
“He’s right.”
The woman stopped.
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“I wanted to see how Briggs handled a person he thought could not affect him.”
“And you found out.”
“Yes.”
“At my expense.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised Ethan.
Marcus attempted to stand.
The medical officer supported him.
Once steady, Marcus faced the café.
“Come inside.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I don’t work there.”
“You do until I say otherwise.”
“That’s not how getting fired works.”
“It is when the man who fired you works for me.”
Ethan looked at the customers gathered near the glass.
“No.”
Marcus frowned.
“No?”
“You’re going in there to embarrass him.”
“I’m going in there to hold him accountable.”
“In front of everyone.”
“He fired you in front of everyone.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
Marcus studied him.
The answer seemed to interest him.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then come inside while we figure it out.”
Ethan hesitated.
His wet shirt clung to his back.