Kael exhaled slowly after Lyra disappeared into the crowd.
"…You know who that was, right?"
Andres didn't look away from where she had been.
"…Someone important."
Kael let out a short laugh.
"That's one way to put it."
A pause.
Then—
"She's Lyra Velmora."
Silence.
"…Of the Velmora family?" Andres asked.
"Yeah."
That confirmed it.
Influence.
Power.
Observation.
"…So the test yesterday…" Andres muttered.
"Probably connected," Kael said.
Everything was aligning.
The watchers.
The test.
The conversation.
None of it was separate.
"…Then this isn't just business anymore," Andres concluded.
Kael folded his arms.
"Nope."
A brief silence passed.
Then Kael glanced at him sideways.
"…You're not backing off, are you?"
Andres shook his head slightly.
"No."
Not hesitation.
Not fear.
Just decision.
Because stepping back now—
Would mean losing momentum.
And Andres had already learned something important about this world.
If you stopped moving—
You disappeared.
"…Then we move forward," Kael said.
Andres nodded.
But this time—
Forward didn't just mean growth.
It meant engagement.
With the system.
With the city.
And now—
With her.