"Pictures"

The city never slept.
It shimmered under a thousand lights - glass towers, neon signs, the hum of late-night traffic echoing like a restless heartbeat. Somewhere between all that motion, two people moved through its noise, unaware of the way their paths were about to cross - or maybe, fated to collide.

Michael Kaiser lived in the city's shadows, where deals were made with whispers and blood. To the world, he was elegance - a man in a tailored suit, owner of a glittering nightclub that lured in the city's elite. Beneath that charm, he carried something darker. The kind of danger that didn't need to be announced - it could be felt in the air when he walked by.

Alexis Ness lived in the light, or at least pretended to. A university student with a soft voice, a sharp mind, and a camera always slung around his neck. He captured moments - fleeting expressions, fragments of beauty, the things people missed. But lately, his lens lingered too long on one person.

It began with a photograph.
A man leaving a café. The late sunlight caught on his hair, gold against the dull gray of the city. His eyes - cold, but tired - had looked back only once.

Ness didn't know why he took that picture. Or why he printed it. Or why he started looking for that man again.

And Kaiser - he didn't yet know someone was already watching.

Because sometimes, obsession begins quietly.
Like a picture - a single, stolen frame - before the whole film starts to burn.