Maylen’s stomach twisted. Something about the figure was familiar—not the familiarity of a face, but the intimacy of someone who had been inside her world without permission. Someone who understood the beats of her life, her rhythms, her vulnerabilities.
“Surprise,” the figure said, voice silky, deliberate, almost mocking.
Maylen’s chest constricted. “You?”
“Yes, me,” the figure replied. The hood dropped slightly, revealing sharp, calculating eyes and a grin that made her blood run cold. “You really thought you could control everything, didn’t you?”
Lanry’s hands tightened at his sides, but he didn’t move. He wasn’t the target yet. That was clear. His eyes, however, flickered with protective fire, and his jaw clenched in that way that made her pulse spike dangerously.
Maylen took a ca
