He’s here.

Nyra’s pulse quickened—not with nerves, but with anticipation. She watched him the way a predator watches the moment before the pounce. He walked in, unaware, unguarded. He didn’t know she’d been following him for days. Didn’t know she already knew how he took his coffee, what songs he skipped on his playlist, the way his mouth twitched when he was trying not to smile.

He looked around, casual. Relaxed. But not for long.

She was already in his path before he realized.

She timed it perfectly—just as his eyes slid in her direction, she moved like she wasn’t moving for him. Like it was all coincidence. She tilted her head, smiled the way he liked. Not too big. Just a little crooked, like there was a private joke between them he didn’t know yet.

“I think I’ve seen you around,” she said, her voice low and laced with curiosity she didn’t actually feel.

He blinked. Registered her.

There. That flicker. That split-second hesitation as his brain stalled to recalibrate—because something about her pulled at him. Familiar. Intriguing. She saw it in the way his eyes narrowed just a little. In the pause before he answered.

He didn’t recognize her, of course. Not as the girl who brushed his sleeve on the train. Not the one who laughed just loudly enough behind him in line. But his body remembered. Something in him recognized her—and that was enough.

She smiled again, slower this time.