laughing.
Not the kind of laugh people perform-loud and rehearsed-but a real one. Soft, sudden, like it surprised even her.
She was carrying two mugs of coffee at once, nearly tripped over a napkin, and laughed at herself.
He had been sitting in his car across the street, bored. Waiting. Killing time before a meeting that would turn bloody before the second course.
And then she walked out of that diner with sunlight tangled in her hair, apron dusted with powdered sugar-and he forgot the weight of the gun under his seat.
He hadn't been back to the city in two years.
Not since the warehouse fire. Not since Elias died. Not since he'd burned the past and buried his heart beneath concrete.
But that laugh cracked something open.
---
He told himself it was nothing.
She was no one. Just another pretty face in a world he'd already turned his back on.
But he came back the next day.
And the one after that.
He timed his visits with her shifts. Watched her from behind tinted windows. Memorized her routine. Her smile. The way she tucked her hair behind her ear when nervous.
She didn't notice him.
Not yet.
And he liked it that way.
Watching was safe. Watching meant control.
Love was mess. Love meant risk.
But obsession-
Obsession was clean.
---
Aiden wasn't just anyone.
On paper, he didn't exist.
No social. No phone number. Just encrypted accounts, burner cells, and a list of names in red.
He worked under the Salvetti family-a bloodline older than the city itself.
Smuggling. Laundering. Digital extortion.
And when things got messy?
He cleaned it up.
They called him The Ghost.
He didn't leave traces. Didn't take souvenirs.
Until her.
---
He kept a file.
Elara Whitmore. Age 23.
Only child. Two living parents.
No criminal record. No known enemies.
"Waitress," he muttered, flipping through the photos. "Too pure for this world."
He stared at the most recent image.
Her silhouette through a rain-slicked window. Fingers curled around a coffee mug.
Alone.
He should've walked away.
But he didn't.
He wanted to know what made her laugh.
He wanted to protect her.
Possess her.
Understand her down to the blood and bone.
And if anyone got too close-
He'd make sure they disappeared.
---