Chapter One

Lila’s POV

The elevator opened onto music and the low murmur of voices already settled into the night.

I stepped out onto the rooftop with a paper cup of something citrus and sharp, the city spread in scattered gold beyond the glass barrier. String lights hung in loose loops overhead. A small group clustered near the far end familiar faces from overlapping circles, the kind of gathering that never quite required an invitation. Maya spotted me first and waved me over with the bright insistence of someone who had already decided the evening needed one more person.

Cole stood slightly apart from the main cluster.

I noticed him...