Mila
The city felt different after almost.
Sharper.
Like every sound had an edge.
Mila tried to ignore it.
She went to work.
She laughed with the kids.
She told herself she wasn’t replaying the near-kiss in her mind every ten minutes.
But she was.
The way Adrian’s breath had stalled.
The way his hands trembled at his sides.
The way he’d looked at her like she was something sacred and dangerous at the same time.
She wasn’t naïve.
She knew men like Adrian didn’t exist without enemies.
What she hadn’t expected was to feel watched.
It started small.
A black SUV parked across the street two days in a row.
A man lingering near the art center entrance, pretending to scroll on his phone.
A call with no voice on the other end.
The first time, she brushed it off.
The second time,
