Leon didn't sleep much.
He never did.
But when he did lie down, Ayla's face had started slipping into the edge of his mind. Not like an obsession—more like a riddle. She didn't belong in his world. Which made him want to know why she was here.
He slid the file open again.
No priors. No police record. No family near the city. One emergency contact—a younger brother in school, out of state.
Leon raised an eyebrow.
No father. Mother died four years ago. And she'd been working odd jobs since nineteen just to keep her brother in school.
Survivor.
Not stupid. Not soft.
Just desperate.
⸻
"Find out where she lives," Leon said quietly to Nico that morning.
"You planning to visit?" Nico joked, instantly regretting it.
Leon's look shut him up.
"Just find it."
⸻
Later that night, he stood across the street from a rundown building in Eastbridge. He didn't enter. Didn't even let her see the black car parked under the broken streetlight.
But she was there.
He saw the window light flicker.
She was alone.
No protection. No backup. No one watching her six.
And she was working in a place like his?
It didn't sit right with him.
⸻
Leon didn't believe in accidents.
And girls like her? They didn't just fall into his world.
Something had pulled her in.
And he wasn't sure whether to pull her out—
—Or pull her closer.