Viya's POV
By the time I pulled into the underground parking garage at Willowbrook, my nerves were still humming with unease.
Even with the Julian's family acting as a middleman, something about Alpha Shaw felt *off*. Too convenient. Too calculated.
Or maybe I was just being paranoid.
The elevator chimed softly as it reached my floor. I stepped out, still half-lost in thought, and didn't notice the figure standing in the hallway until his voice cut through the fog in my head.
"Lost in your own head again?"
I startled slightly, my gaze snapping up to meet Caesar's. He was leaning against the doorframe of 2201, his arms crossed, watching me with that quiet, unreadable intensity that always made me feel like he could see straight through me.
But somehow, just seeing him
