ALESSIO’S POV
Fear has a rhythm.
You learn it when you’ve watched men lie with steady voices and trembling hands. You learn it when you’ve seen predators mask hunger as patience. The message Seraphina forwarded did not surprise me. It confirmed what I already knew.
He wanted acknowledgment.
Men like him do not settle for distance. They need proximity. They need the reassurance that they still exist in the mind of the person they fixated on. Silence enrages them. Being ignored feels like erasure.
And erasure is something they never forgive.
I didn’t go to her apartment immediately. That would have been reactionary. Predictable. Instead, I made calls, short ones, efficient ones. Within minutes, the city shifted. Eyes opened. Doors closed. Vehicles moved.
The difference between chaos
