First message
She didn’t belong here. That was the first thing I noticed. While the others moved like they were part of the wallpaper—hungry eyes, greedy hands, fake laughter echoing off velvet walls—she stood still, clutching her bag like it was armor. Her eyes darted around the room like she was waiting for someone to pull her back, like this was all a mistake she could still undo. Too soft, too clean. She didn’t wear the mask everyone else did. And maybe that’s what made me stare a little too long, long enough for her to notice. I should’ve looked away. I didn’t. Because for a moment, in this place built on lies and flesh, she looked like something real.
Her eyes met mine—uncertain, but not afraid. Not yet.
I pushed off the bar and walked toward her, slow and easy, like I wasn’t about to ruin whatever innocence she had left.
“You lost, sweetheart?” I asked, voice low, smooth, the way they taught me to talk. “This ain’t the kind of place people wander into by accident.”