The world narrowed to a single, devastating point.
Tall heels, sharp enough to puncture the quiet of the street. Expensive perfume, a cloud of jasmine and ozone that cut through the city grime. A designer coat, tailored and severe. And hair... a violent, brilliant slash of red against the dull, washed-out sky.
My heart didn't just stop. It froze solid in my chest, a block of ice.
Ashlyn.
For one fractured second, pure animal instinct took over... run, hide, disappear. But my feet were rooted to the pavement. The landlord looked up, a bland, friendly smile on his face.
"Ah, Aria dear!"
The sound of my name was a death knell.
The woman turned.
And there she was. Ash. Her presence was too large, too vivid for this gray world. Her sunglasses were pushed into that fiery hair, and her mouth fell open, a perfect O of shock as her eyes, wide and disbelieving, locked onto me.
Then she was moving.
She didn't walk. She ran. A force of nature in stilettos.
"ARIA!"
