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I stay seated, watching him gather his things without hurry.

At the door, he turns and crooks a finger at me.A summons.Nothing more.

“You could learn a thing or two from her, you know.”

He taps his mouth once, expectant.

“Seriously.Call Jenny.Who knows?Maybe she’ll rub off on you.”

I don't move.

Not right away.

The hesitation costs me.

He crosses the room in two strides, clamps a hand around the back of my neck, and forces me forward until there's nowhere left to go, until my lips are on his.

It’s not violent.

It doesn’t have to be.

Eventually, I give in.

That’s the game.

Let him think you’re kissing.So he doesn’t notice you’re counting.

5

Vance

She’s alone when she steps outside, as usual.No kid.Just her phone in one hand and a folded sheet of lab orders in the other, walking like she’s already halfway to the next version of the story she’ll sell tonight.

I track her pace.Steady.Predictable.As though she’s rehearsing it for an audience she thinks she controls.

I shift out from behind the sedan.

Cap down.Posture off.Gait borrowed from someone slower.Face altered just enough.

The cameras will catch what I want them to catch.Nothing useful.

When she hits the gap between rows, I move.

Hand to the arm first.Then the base of her neck.

The syringe slides in clean—a motion I’ve practiced a hundred times for worse outcomes.

The dose doesn’t quite work as fast as her mouth does.

“This is a mistake,” she says.Clear.Certain.

“They all think that.”I steady her as she folds against me.“They’re wrong.”

Her phone drops.I catch it before it bounces.

Quick wipe.Face down.Left under the rear tire of a car that doesn’t belong to either of us.

Someone will find it when the timing’s right.Not before.