After the shower, she wrapped herself in a towel, holding the lingerie pieces with a critical stare.

“This is ridiculous. This is… pure theater.”

Still, phone in hand, she took a photo of the two lingerie sets laid out on the bed. The lighting turned out perfect—she had to admit that. She sent it to Gabriel with the caption:

“Choose one.”

The moment she hit send, she let out a muffled scream, tossed the phone onto the bed, and covered her face.

“What did I just do?! I sent it! I actually sent it?!”

She paced back and forth. “He’s going to laugh. Or worse—he’ll think I’ve been kidnapped and someone else took over my phone!”

Meanwhile, in Gabriel’s apartment, he had just stepped out of the shower and unlocked his phone. When he saw the message, his eyes widened.

He froze, staring at the screen as if it were some impossible hologram.

“Ava?” he whispered, stunned. “Is this a trap? A test?”

He reread the caption. The photo. The caption again.

Then he smiled. A wide, surprised, utterly char