RAVENNA's POV
I cleared my throat, and the sound was far too loud in the suffocating stillness. "It's… a very nice car. Innovative. Unique. It must have cost a fortune."
His gaze flicked to me. It was a brief, chilling glance that seemed to catalogue my nervousness and dismiss it all at once. "Where exactly did you say you were headed?" he asked, his voice low, stripped of any real curiosity. It was interrogation dressed as small talk.
I forced a smile, one I prayed looked casual instead of desperate. "Just… a café downtown. I'm meeting someone there." Keep it vague, keep it light, I reminded myself—don't let it sound suspicious.
"A café," he repeated slowly, the words curling on his tongue, infused with an obvious skepticism. "You dressed like that—for a café?"
I looked d
