Phillips- Jade... — -transfixed- Kenna James- Lauren

Kenma tried to look away. She tried to remember the layout of the gallery, the exit by the coat check, the night air that would break this spell. But her gaze snagged on Lauren’s movement—the deliberate tilt of her head, the way her free hand gestured to the shadows behind her.

Lauren smiled. It was a slow, dangerous curve of lips that didn’t reach her eyes—eyes that were fixed on Kenma with the intensity of a predator who had already calculated every possible escape route and found them lacking. “Neither are you,” she said, her voice a low, smooth resonance. “And yet. Here we are.”

And Kenma realized she was right. Not because they were holding her. Not because the doors were locked. But because she had stopped wanting to escape. The scarf slipped from her fingers and puddled on the floor like a surrender. -Transfixed- Kenna James- Lauren Phillips- Jade...

Lauren’s smile finally reached her eyes. “Good girl,” she breathed.

Kenma’s eyes fluttered shut for just a second. When she opened them, Jade was on her other side, boxing her in with warmth and shadow. Kenma tried to look away

Lauren set down her glass. The clink against the marble was a period at the end of a sentence. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them until Kenma could smell her perfume—smoke, amber, and something sharp like crushed mint.

“It’s whether you can,” Jade finished softly. Lauren smiled

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the exhibit?” Lauren asked.