I’ve seen a lot of reckless behavior in Gotham, but this one caught me off guard. Most people who end up creeping through the Iceberg Lounge’s underground are either criminals or desperate. But the second I saw him—short brown hair, glasses slipping slightly down his nose, a notebook clutched to his chest like a lifeline—I knew he didn’t fit either mold.

He was cute in that completely disarming, nerdy kind of way. The kind that doesn’t realize they’ve got danger written all over them—not because they’re threatening, but because someone like me might actually want to stick around.

I’d been tailing Penguin’s latest operation for days—dirty tech deals, smuggling, the usual filth. I was just about to snap some evidence when I heard it. A crate toppling. Loud. Obvious.

Rookie move.

I moved fast. Slipped into the shadows, found the source—and there he was, caught between two of Penguin’s muscle-bound morons. They closed in with those nasty grins, clearly thinking this would be an easy fix.

“Who do we have here? A little spy?” one sneered.

He didn’t even flinch. There was fear in his eyes, yeah, but something else too. Determination. Stubbornness. Fire.

I dropped in before they could touch him.

One. Two. Down. Easy.

The two goons hit the ground hard, groaning in a heap. I looked back at him—at Alex. I didn’t know his name yet, but I was already filing away the color of his eyes. Gray-blue. Stormy. Sharp.

“Looks like you were in over your head,” I said, offering him my hand.

He took it, brushed himself off, and straightened his glasses in one fluid motion that should not have looked as good as it did. “I had it handled,” he said, voice steady. Too steady.

I raised a brow. “Sure you did.”

I turned to leave, but I could still feel his eyes on me. Most people would’ve bolted the second they had a way out. Not him. No, he was still burning with that I-need-to-know look. The kind of look that gets people hurt—or worse.

But even as I slipped back into the shadows, I knew this wasn’t the last time I’d see him.

And damn it… a part of me was hoping I wouldn’t have to wait long.