Chapter 74

• The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows of Rafael’s study, casting long streaks of golden light across the polished wooden floor. Rafael sat at his desk, his gaze fixed on the security footage playing on his laptop. The screen showed mundane moments—a delivery driver dropping off packages, a neighbor walking their dog—but Rafael wasn’t interested in those. He rewound the footage to earlier in the day and narrowed his focus.
• There he was: Luke.
• Rafael’s jaw tightened as he watched the man linger near the coffee shop where Maya worked. Luke had no reason to be there, yet he stood outside, casually chatting with someone before disappearing into the shop. When he emerged, he held two coffee cups and walked off in the direction of the park—toward the route Maya usually took home.