Mila
Mila noticed the shadows before she noticed the fear.
It wasn’t dramatic at first. No guns. No threats. No obvious danger. Just small things that felt… wrong.
A car idling too long across the street from her apartment.
The same two men lingering near the art center on different days, pretending to scroll through their phones but never actually leaving.
A sense of being watched that prickled the back of her neck when she walked home at night.
She told herself she was imagining it.
She had been spending too much time around Adrian Black. Anyone would start seeing ghosts after brushing shoulders with a man like him.
Still, she changed her routes home.
Still, she checked reflections in store windows.
Still, she started locking her door twice.
One evening, as she left the art ce
