Briella thought, her pulse quickening.
He moved with purpose, but also with discretion, as if he were following a plan that only he understood. Briella's gut told her they were connected in some way, perhaps working toward the same goal, but ever since Liv vanished, he had not appeared… until now.
Her hands tightened in her lap. The tension in her chest grew. The man's presence felt like a thread linking the chaos below to a secret only he knew.
Is he involved in Liv's disappearance? she whispered to herself, barely daring to speak aloud.
Her eyes never left him. Every step he took seemed deliberate, calculated, and Briella realized that, for the first time since the search began, her curiosity mingled with fear.
Without a second thought, Briella slipped through the crowd, her steps light but urgent. The man she had spotted moved with an almost deliberate precision, his hat pulled low, a dark cloak draping over his frame, blending him into the shadows.
