The hum of the engine filled the quiet stretch of road, a monotone companion to the late-afternoon shadows creeping across the trees. Leon drove with casual precision, hands gripping the wheel lightly, his posture relaxed, nothing in him betrayed the storm simmering just beneath the surface. To anyone else, he was just a government agent returning home from a long assignment, the faint stiffness in his uniform unremarkable.

Another turn on the highway, and he noticed a young woman with a neat bob that somehow struck a familiar chord deep inside him. Her eyes darted nervously to the passing scenery, unsure if she should trust the stranger offering a ride. Leon’s smile was disarming, casual, almost brotherly, but there was an edge in his gaze she didn’t notice, a cold calculation.

“You heading far?” he asked smoothly, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. Her hesitation made his pulse quicken in ways he barely restrained.

She slid into the passenger seat, unknowing, placing herself exactly where he wanted her. The door clicked shut, and Leon’s expression hardened for a heartbeat. Inside his mind, he replayed the image of Ada, twisted into desire and possession, and the girl beside him fit the mold perfectly.

For now, he was just Leon, the polite agent, chatting lightly, steering the car deeper into the remote wilderness. But every calculated word, every careful gesture was a step toward the private life he imagined, a life where she would belong entirely to him.

The road narrowed, the trees thickened, his car getting closer and closer to his remote house, and the hum of the tires on asphalt echoed the rhythm of his obsession.