The city no longer felt like a place Aria could move through unnoticed. It watched her now. Not in the obvious ways — no flashing cameras in her face, no reporters chasing her down sidewalks — but in quieter, more insidious forms.
Lingering glances. Conversations that stopped when she entered a room. Screens that dimmed just slightly too late when she walked past. She noticed everything. Because she had always needed to.
Aria stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in Lucien’s office, her fingers resting lightly against the glass. The skyline stretched endlessly ahead, sharp and glittering, but tonight it looked different. Harder. Colder. More dangerous.
Behind her, Lucien was speaking. She didn’t turn immediately. Instead, she watched his reflection in the glass — his posture, the tightn
