NEVA POV
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Nobody moved for three full seconds.
I counted them. It is a habit I've developed — counting in moments of crisis, because it gives the part of my brain that wants to spiral something to do that isn't spiraling.
One.
The man in the doorway hadn't moved. Still smiling. Completely at ease, in the specific way of someone who has decided they are the most dangerous thing in any room and stopped needing to prove it.
Two.
Ryke, standing between me and the door, hadn't moved either. But his stillness was a different kind — the stillness of something loaded, not something resting.
Three.
"Wrong diner," Ryke said.
The man tilted his head. "Don't think so."
"There's another one on Fifth. Better coffee."
"I'll take mine here." His eyes moved past Ryke's shoulder and found min
