Sue wasn’t expecting anyone. It was almost midnight, and the rain had started to tap gently against the windowpanes. She sat on the floor of her small living room, a cup of tea cooling beside her and an open book resting on her knees—though she hadn’t turned a page in twenty minutes. When the knock came, it wasn’t loud. Just a single, steady knock. She froze, her stomach tightening with instinct. No one ever came to her door this late. She moved quietly, cautiously, and looked through the peephole—and the breath left her lungs. Niko. Standing in the hallway of her apartment building like he had been dropped there by a dream or a glitch in time. Damp from the rain, coat zipped up, that same quiet intensity in his eyes. He didn’t move, didn’t even look directly at the door—like he wasn’t sure if he deserved it to open.

She opened it anyway. Slowly. Her eyes met his, steady but full of a thousand questions. She held the door halfway open, heart thudding. “You’re free,” she said quietly, almost like she was reminding herself. “My report helped… I guess.”