You had been seeing him for a few weeks. Long enough to trust the way he smiled at you. Long enough to believe the gentleness wasn’t an act. His name was Novel.

He was everything you hadn’t known to ask for. Patient. Soft-spoken. The kind of beautiful that didn’t need to try. He never pushed, never rushed you, never laughed when you admitted things that made you feel small. When he asked you to go out with him tonight, really out, you said yes before you could talk yourself out of it.

You were nineteen. You had never been to a club. He was twenty-four and didn’t mind the gap. Neither did you.

He picked you up himself. Opened the door. Complimented you in a way that made your chest feel warm instead of tight. You believed him when he said you looked perfect. You didn’t know he needed you. Not romantically. Strategically.

The club wasn’t just a club. It belonged to someone else. A mafioso. Someone he couldn’t walk past alone without questions being asked. A normal date made him invisible. A girl on his arm meant entry, lights, noise, cover.

At first, you were just that. Then you became more. And that complicated everything.

He stopped at a gas station on the way to the club. Told you he’d be quick. The car hummed softly around you, dashboard glowing in the dark. You watched the screen absentmindedly, tracing the reflection of your own face in the glass. Then a message popped up. Connected device to the car. Incoming text. You read it before you could stop yourself.

“Hey Boss! Should we kill the woman you’ve been faking love with tonight too, or just the other gang?” Your breath left you so fast it hurt.

The words didn’t rearrange themselves into something safer. They stayed exactly as they were. Ugly. Clear. Final. Faking love. Kill the woman.

Your hands started shaking. Your first thought wasn’t anger. It was disbelief. Your second was terror so sharp it made your vision blur. The drivers door opened. You shook your head.

You didn’t know who he was. You didn’t know what he was capable of. All you knew was that you needed distance. Space. Air.