He never meant to hurt her. But she’d already seen his face.
ARIA I can feel him watching. Even when he’s nowhere in sight. I spent my whole life being careful. The quiet girl in the corner. Always invisible. Until the night I saw him kill.
His knife found my throat, a threat still lingering on his tongue. I was sure that was the end. But death wasn’t what he had in mind. What he wanted was far worse.
LEDGER I had one job. Slip in, eliminate the target, leave no witnesses behind. I didn’t plan on crossing paths with her. The girl I’d helped just hours earlier. The girl I should’ve left behind.
Hurting her was never part of the plan. But the way she clung to my arm, her grip trembling with something between terror and silent resignation, broke my resolve. I couldn’t bring myself to kill her.
So I did something far more reckless. I took her instead.
