"We're finished," Rei said again. She kept her eyes on Nash, waiting for his reaction.
Nash leaned forward with his elbows resting on the scarred wooden table. He looked straight at her without blinking.
"Finished?" he asked. "That's a big word. Finished how?"
Rei took a slow breath, rubbing her finger on the rim of her coffee cup.
"Down here, in the Underground, it starts the same way for a lot of us," she said. "You're a kid on the street, maybe ten or twelve, no parents or parents who don't care. You're hungry. You're cold. You're sleeping in doorways or under bridges. Every day is about surviving. Then one day someone shows up. Clean clothes. Nice smile. They talk to you like you matter. They say they see something special in you. They promise a better life. Training. Food. A bed. A future. They say they can make you a star."
She kept her voice even, like she was reading from a script she had said too many times.
