Frank didn’t speak, just gave Reynolds a heavy nod.

Reynolds withdrew his gaze and fixed it back on Leo.

"Mayor."

Reynolds’s voice was low, as if dredged from the depths of his chest, thick with a suffocating tension.

"This is a huge gamble."

"We’re betting our lives and livelihoods on that so-called revival plan, on your word alone."

He took a step forward, until he was less than two feet from Leo.

"Can we trust you?"

It was a devastatingly simple question.

But it was also the heaviest question in the world.

It wasn’t asking about policy or budgets, but about one person’s commitment to another.

Leo didn’t shy away from that searing gaze.

He didn’t even blink.

"You don’t have to trust the Mayor. You don’t have to trust politicians."

Leo’s voice was incredibly clear in the cold wind.

"But you can trust Leo Wallace."

"Because I’m standing right here on the cliff’s edge, with you."

Leo reached out and pointed to his own chest.

"If I lie to you, if I back down."

"You don’t have to wait for Morganfield to make a move, and you don’t have to wait for the next election."

"You can come back anytime, storm through that door, and drag me off that chair."

"And I won’t lift a finger to stop you."

Reynolds stared into Leo’s eyes for a full five seconds.

In those young pupils, he saw something harder than steel.

Finally, the muscles on Reynolds’s tense face began to relax.

He took a deep breath.

"Alright."

Reynolds said only a single word.

Then he turned to face the hundreds of his brothers behind him, who were still caught between agitation and confusion.

"Did you all hear that?!"

Reynolds’s roar echoed across the entire City Hall plaza.

"The Mayor said it! This is to give us armor! It’s to give us a way to survive!"

"He’s put everything on the line, so what do we have to be afraid of?!"

Reynolds gave a sharp wave of his hand.

"Everyone, put your things away!"

"Anyone who dares to throw one more thing at these steps, anyone who dares to embarrass me again!"

"I’ll personally throw him into the Monongahela River to feed the fish!"

The crowd began to break up.

In that instant, the tense, near-breaking atmosphere of confrontation receded like the tide.

The workers holding rotten tomatoes hastily stuffed them back into their pockets, wiping their hands on their pants.

Those holding signs that read "Liar" silently lowered them. Some even bashfully turned their signs around.

Leo stood on the steps, watching as the crowd slowly dispersed under Reynolds’s orders, like a receding tide.

A cold wind blew past, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

Roosevelt’s voice slowly echoed from the depths of his mind.

’You see, Leo.’

’This is the working class.’

’They are the fiercest beasts in this world, and also the most naive of children.’

’They’ll want to burn everything down because of a rumor, but they’ll also lay down their butcher knives because a man looked them in the eye and said, "Trust me".’

’They are the first to give their hearts away.’ 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

’And because of that, they are the easiest to deceive, the easiest to be used by politicians full of empty promises, only to be thrown away like trash in a roadside gutter in the end.’

’You saved yourself today with clever words, and you’ve won their trust.’

’If you betray that trust, if you treat this as just another clever political performance...’

’...then you’ll no longer be their hero. You will become a sinner in the eyes of history.’

Roosevelt’s sigh echoed in Leo’s soul.

’So, my boy.’

’Remember the oath you just swore.’

’Never, ever fail them.’