Chapter 1

Mika had read about men like him before. Dangerous. Methodical. Cold. But she never thought she’d see one outside the pages of her books.

The subway car was packed, the stale air thick with the scent of too many bodies pressed too close together. Strangers swayed with each jolt of the train, their gazes fixed on their phones, their minds elsewhere. No one paid attention to the world around them. But Mika did. She always did.

She noticed things—the woman in the corner gripping her purse a little too tightly, the man near the doors tapping his foot in an anxious rhythm, the kid with headphones bobbing his head slightly off-beat to whatever he was listening to. She took it all in, cataloging the details, sorting them into patterns. Harmless. Predictable. Expected.

She had always been that way. Observant. Quiet. Always watching. It wasn’t a habit born of curiosity, but of necessity. Growing up in group homes had taught her that survival belonged to those who understood their surroundings best. Trouble never announced itself with grand entrances. It was subtle, creeping in through the cracks, disguised in a smile or the tense set of a stranger’s shoulders. If you paid close enough attention, you could always see it coming.

Tonight, the train was restless. A different energy clung to the bodies pressed against her, something almost electric. People were tired, some looked irritated, but most were checked out completely. The hum of conversations, the occasional laugh—it all blurred into the background as Mika focused on the details. The rhythm of the train, the shifting of weight as people adjusted their stance, the way the dim fluorescent lights flickered slightly in sync with the lurching of the subway car.

She took a slow breath, tasting the metallic tang in the air. The city always smelled the same down here—a mix of sweat, damp concrete, and something vaguely electrical, like the residue of static clinging to skin after walking too close to a storm. Familiar. Unchanging. Safe in its own strange way.

Then, without warning, the air changed.

Not in a way anyone else would notice. It wasn’t a sound, or a movement. It was a presence.

She felt him before she saw him—a shift in the atmosphere, like something dark and heavy had settled into the space between heartbeats. Her skin prickled. The tiny hairs along the back of her neck rose, her body reacting before her mind could make sense of it. There was no reason to look up. No logical reason for the sudden spike in awareness. And yet, she did.

And there he was.

Tall. Towering, really. He had the kind of frame that was built for dominance, broad shoulders stretching against the fabric of his black jacket, his stance exuding something quiet but lethal. His dark hair was thick and cut short at the sides, but just unruly enough on top to look like he ran his hands through it absentmindedly—like he didn’t care what it looked like, because why would he? Men like him weren’t made to be pretty. They were made to be feared.

Except, he was pretty. But not in a polished, magazine-cover way. His features were sharp, masculine—all angles and severity. A chiseled jaw, the faintest hint of stubble, cheekbones carved by something ruthless. His nose had been broken before—healed imperfectly, giving him the look of someone who had seen violence, who had walked away from it and hadn’t cared enough to get it fixed. And then there were his lips—full, firm, the kind of mouth that made something low and wicked stir in her stomach.

But it was his eyes that trapped her. Green, like fresh-cut jade. Piercing. Cold. Amused.

He knew exactly what he was, and he knew that she knew too.

There was something dangerous in the way he moved, something that sent a ripple of awareness through her body before her brain even had the chance to process it. He didn’t just walk—he prowled. Fluid, efficient, powerful. Every step was a calculated move, every slight adjustment in posture intentional. He was a predator moving through a crowd of oblivious prey.

And Mika could feel the heat of him from across the subway car.

She swallowed, dragging her gaze away, but it was too late. She had looked too long, let herself get caught in that pull. The energy around her shifted, thickening, crackling with something silent but undeniable.

Don’t look again, she warned herself.

But she did.

And that’s when it happened.

The train rattled forward, the overhead lights flickering for a split second. And in that fraction of darkness, it happened.

A knife. A single, fluid motion. Quick. Efficient.

Mika didn’t even process the body slumping forward until the train lurched again, and the man crumpled to the floor. A few gasps rang out, muffled by the screech of metal on metal. But no one screamed. No one understood what had happened. Not yet.

Except her.

Her breath caught. She forced herself to stay still, to keep her expression neutral. She should be horrified. She should be afraid. But what unsettled her most wasn’t the act itself.

It was the fact that she felt nothing at all.

Then, as if sensing the weight of her gaze, the man looked up.

Their eyes met.

A flicker of something crossed his face. Surprise. Interest. Calculation. Like he was seeing her for the first time, really seeing her. And in that heartbeat, Mika realized one terrifying truth.

He knew that she knew.

His gaze held hers, unwavering, locked onto her like a hook had sunk into something beneath her skin. She could see the moment his mind ticked through his options, measured his next move.

A slow shift in his posture, just the barest twitch of his fingers against his thigh. He was debating it.

Her.

Deciding whether she was a problem or something else entirely.

The corner of his mouth twitched. Not a smile, not quite. More like something between amusement and a warning. I see you. I know you see me. What are you going to do about it?