CHAPTER FIFTY NINE

~SCARLETT~

I notice it on a Tuesday.

Not because anything dramatic happens but because something doesn’t.

For the first time in days, I didn’t feel watched from a distance.

I felt… accompanied.

It started small.

When I step out of my apartment building that morning, the street is already busy. Cars pass, people rush by, the city hums like it always does. I adjust my bag on my shoulder and head toward the café, mind already bracing for another long shift.

That’s when I see him.

Dimitri stands across the street, phone pressed to his ear, posture relaxed but alert. He isn’t hiding. He isn’t pretending not to see me.

And when his gaze lifts and meets mine…

He doesn’t look away.

My breath catches.

Not because of surprise but Because of relief.

He nods once. Not an invitation. Not a demand. Just acknowledgment.

I’m here.

Something warm spreads through my chest before I can stop it.

I don’t cross the street. He doesn’t either.

But the space between us feels different now.

Alive.

At work, t