The setting was a bustling public park, meticulously chosen for its wide-open vistas and numerous escape routes. To Mara, standing anxiously on the rough gravel path, it felt like the eye of a storm, the center of a chaotic target. The warm spring sun bathed her face in light, yet it couldn't penetrate the cold, gnawing fear that lay deep within her chest, twisting like a snake coiling tighter with every passing moment.

This was the plan, an intricate choreography born out of necessity. She ...