---- Chapter 15 There's something different about the streets of France in early winter. I was walking back to my apartment alone after class. The sound of hurried footsteps behind me made me tense. Instinctively, I quickened my pace. But whoever was behind me only closed the distance faster. Panic swelled in my chest. I broke into a run, turning corners without thinking, until I crashed into something-someone-solid and cool. "T've been waiting forever," a man's voice murmured above my head, calm and low. "Took you long enough." He spoke in fluent, effortless French-clearly for the benefit of the people behind me. From behind, someone cursed under their breath and turned away, footsteps fading into the ---- distance. Only then did I lift my head. The first thing I saw was Tyler's face. As cold and striking as I remembered, but thinner now, more worn. The disheveled stubble, the slight slump in his shoulders-he looked like a man who had lost things along the way. "What are you doing here?" I asked, though the question felt foolish even as it left my lips. "Mindy," he sighed, his voice tired but not without warmth, "you're really something. Ran off three times, right under my nose." There was something else in his tone too, something almost like relief. We ended up sitting across from each other ina corner café, like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in years. "The day you left," he began, "Charles went home ---- and smashed his family home." I hadn't expected him to mention Charles right away. Then again, maybe I had. I gave a small nod, offering no response. "T figured I might as well lend him a hand," he continued, swirling the coffee in his cup without drinking. ''Made things a little more difficult for the Mankin family. Eventually, old man George couldn't handle the pressure and handed the police the evidence- everything Madam Mankin did, how she had planned that accident." I looked up at him. "How do you know what happened back then?" He gave a small, bitter laugh. "Because we saw each other that day." I froze and stared at him for a long time, trying to find him in my memory. But there was nothing. Not even a trace. ---- Without another word, he pulled a small box from his coat pocket, flipped it open, and set it in front of me.