The street was almost empty that night, but she could feel it.
The weight of someone's eyes. The sound of a second pair of footsteps — steady, unhurried, like they weren't following… but hunting.
Aria tightened her grip on the straps of her bag, quickening her pace. The neon lights of the convenience store flickered ahead, a false promise of safety. She told herself she was imagining it — the shiver down her spine, the echo of her heartbeat loud in her ears.
But then a voice cut through the silence. Smooth. Certain. Too close.
> "You can't keep running from me."
She froze. The voice was familiar. Too familiar.
Her chest rose and fell as she turned, and there he was.
Kael. The boy who used to smile at her across crowded rooms. The boy who should have been nothing more than a memory.
But the look in his eyes wasn't the same.
It wasn't love.
It was possession.
And in that moment, Aria realized the truth:
He wouldn't stop. Not until he had her.
Not until she belonged to him.
---