Chapter 6. The Contract

The gym smelled different in the morning—cleaner, colder, like the air hadn’t decided what it wanted to be yet. Light spilled through the high windows, cutting stripes across the ring.

Lia stood in the doorway, gloves hanging from her hand, waiting.

Cassian was already there, same posture as always—arms folded, gaze somewhere far enough away to make her feel like background noise.

He didn’t ask why she’d come back. He just said, “You’re early.”

“I didn’t sleep.”

“Not a badge of honor.”

“I wasn’t looking for one.”

He nodded once, like he’d expected that answer. “You said you wanted training space. You still do?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we talk terms.”

He didn’t walk toward her; he expected her to close the distance. She did. The boards under her boots groaned, the sound filling the pause between them.

He pointed toward the corner of the room where an old desk sat under a wall of fading fight posters. A few sheets of paper were l