The city drowns in late-night rainfall, streetlights fracturing into liquid gold across the slick glass of my window. I press my fingertips against the cool pane, watching droplets race down the other side like tears I refuse to shed. The evidence drive sits heavy in my palm—barely an ounce of plastic and metal, yet it carries the weight of my past, present, and possible futures within its circuits. The decision I make in the next moments will determine not just what happens tomorrow with Derek, but what becomes of everything I've spent my life building and protecting.
Behind me, Lucas waits in patient silence. His reflection in the glass is a ghostly echo of presence, a reminder that for perhaps the first time since my first transformation, I am not alone in this moment of vulnerability.
