Leo Wallace stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of City Hall, looking out at the bustling streets below.
He felt like a juggler tossing torches while walking a tightrope.
He had set all of Pennsylvania in motion. Energy, healthcare, infrastructure—all the gears were meshing at high speed.
And the driving force behind it all was a bet on that dormant reactor.
On the surface, he was still the master strategist: a calm, decisive Mayor whose every order was precise and flawless.
But only he knew this calm was a thin sheet of ice over boiling lava.
His fingers unconsciously traced the window frame, where he had already picked off a small patch of paint.
It was a habit he'd picked up over the last few days.
Whenever the nights grew quiet, or when he was alone like this, anxiety would creep over him like vines.
