Raga was never careless. Since Devandra had assigned him to keep an eye on Lyra, he worked with the patience of a predator. Not a single movement, no matter how small, escaped his watch.

For the past few nights, he had followed Lyra without anyone noticing. He logged every phone call, every discreet step outside the building, even every meeting that looked ordinary at first glance. Slowly, the fragments began to form a pattern—vague, but dangerous.

On his laptop screen, the grainy footage from a small hotel’s security camera flickered. There she was—Lyra—walking in with minimal makeup, dressed plainly, as if trying to hide in plain sight. Harmless, if she...