Nothing.
The door shuts behind her.
And just like that, the building swallows her whole.
I stare at the dark window. It stays dark.
My jaw ticks.
Lev’s still hanging out at the balcony rail, like he’s on vacation. Elbows braced. Grinning like this is the most fun he’s had in weeks.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he says. “Anton Malikov. The cold bastard with more confirmed kills than words in his last psychological eval. The one who everyone pisses themselves over when you walk into a room.” He gestures toward the building across the way with his chin. “Hiding fromthat?”
He snorts. “That’s not Viktor Kozlov.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I warn, voice low.
He doesn’t back down. Just stays there, planted against the railing, eyes locked on mine like he’s waiting for me to crack.
He laughs. “You looked like you were about to dive behind the fridge,brat. Is this what we’re doing now?”
Then he jerks his chin toward the building. “Tell me, what the fuck’s got you flinching like you’re waiting for someone to crawl out of the walls?”
I step forward.
He doesn’t move. Still leaning against the railing.
That’s when the light in her unit clicks on.
A warm amber glow spills out across her kitchen window.
I move before I think. Out onto the balcony, fast, the old metal groaning under me. I grab Lev’s arm.
“Get the fuck—”
But I stop. Too late.
The streetlight below—the one that’s been dead since earlier—buzzes to life.
Bright. Unforgiving.
It’s just close enough, just high enough, to light our third-floor balcony like a fucking stage.
The glow hits her unit, too.
And then—
Mary steps out.
She looks… Christ. She looks like trouble I’d walk into twice.
Her hair shifts a little when the breeze cuts through, catches on her cheek, lifts off her collar. Her white blouse is untucked, loose at the waist. A line of skin shows when she moves.
She leans forward, bracing on the railing. Something moves by her foot. The cat squeezes out from behind a patio chair, rubs against her ankle like it owns her.
She looks down, strokes its head once. Then lifts her chin.
Right toward us.
