She tried to catch me, but I'm always one step ahead of her. Of everyone. I don't get caught. I don't slip. Not when it matters.
As for her beloved client, Jake Smith… he doesn't have it well either. I'll be looking into him soon enough. People like him always leave something behind some small mistake they think nobody notices. I notice everything.
And my little bunny… she's been moving around a little too much. Asking questions she shouldn't. It's curiosity now, harmless on the surface, but curiosity turns dangerous fast in a world like this. She doesn't understand that yet.
She will.
Just not now. Not until I get rid of the danger. Because I can't risk her. I can't risk Adriana. I love her too much to let anything touch her.
The danger isn't small. It never is. The people I'm dealing with now don't just move contraband they traffic women too. That's where I draw the line. That's where this stops. And I have to stop it alone. No teams, no backup, no mistakes. Because if they even suspect she matters to me…
No. That won't happen.
Jake Smith is involved. Adam was involved. Cameron… well, Cameron is still in my basement, learning the consequences of his choices. And now it's all starting to connect in a way I don't like.
They're targeting her.
I can feel it.
Which means I have to be careful. More careful than ever.
Today, I saw her again.
She was standing outside her favorite café,"Mavie cafe", the one on the corner with the small outdoor tables and the stupid little plants she always touches when she walks in. She does that every time. Like she's making sure they're real.
I stayed across the street at first, watching. Of course I was.
She looked… distracted. Not like herself. Looking around more than usual, like she felt it too that something was off.
Good. That means she's paying attention.
I stepped closer without thinking. Just a little. Just enough.
And then she saw me.
Her eyes locked onto mine instantly, like she already knew. Like she'd been waiting.
"Hey!" she called out, taking a step forward.
I turned away.
Not fast. Not rushed. Just enough to make it look like I didn't hear her.
"Wait!"
Footsteps behind me. Quick. Determined.
She ran after me.
For a second, I almost stopped.Almost.
But I can't. Not yet.
I kept walking, steady, controlled, like she wasn't there. Like her voice didn't do something to my chest every time she said anything.
"Why do you keep following me?" she shouted, closer now.
I turned the corner without answering.
She followed. Of course she did. She's stubborn like that.
When she reached the corner-
I was gone.
No trace. No direction. Nothing.
I know it drives her crazy.
But it has to be this way.
Because the more she chases me, the closer she gets to the truth.
And the truth… Would destroy everything.
Something wasn't right.
Adriana felt it before she could explain it. A shift. A silence where there shouldn't be one.
The men who used to annoy her, no, not just annoy her, bother her in ways she could never quite prove; were disappearing. One by one.
First Cameron. Meetings canceled, office shut down, no explanation. Just gone. People whispered, but no one really knew anything.
Then Adam. Same pattern. Active one day, unreachable the next.
And now Jake Smith…
Her grip tightened around her phone as she scrolled through old messages. He hadn't replied in days. That wasn't like him. He was persistent. Too persistent.
All of them were.
And now… nothing.
It should've felt like relief.
It didn't.
It felt wrong.
Because they were connected. She didn't know how yet, but she could feel it, like pieces of a puzzle sitting right in front of her, just not fully put together. The same names, the same circles, the same uncomfortable energy every time she was around them.
And now they were gone.
All at once.
"That's not normal…" she muttered under her breath.
She stepped out of her office building, the cool air hitting her face, but it didn't clear her mind. If anything, it made everything sharper. Too sharp.
She went to sit at her usual cafe spot but then she saw him, she called after him but he turned away and she kept chasing him and calling after him but he was always faster.
He turned into a corner and when she turned he wasn't there. She was frustrated but deep down she knew he wasn't any bad, just obsessed. What really mattered was far more dangerous.
She started walking back to the cafe .
Her eyes moved instinctively, scanning the street.
That's when the feeling hit again.
That heavy, quiet feeling.
Like someone was watching her.
She turned quickly. Nothing. Just people passing by, cars, noise, life going on like usual.
But she knew the difference between imagination, and instinct.
Someone was there.
And it wasn't him.
Not the one she had seen. Not the one who walked away from her like she didn't exist, even when she knew he heard her.
This felt different.
Colder.
She started walking, a little faster now, her senses on edge. The café was just ahead ;her usual place, her routine, something normal to hold onto.
But even there, something felt off.
She sat down, pretending to scroll through her phone, but her eyes kept lifting, checking reflections in the glass, movements behind her, shadows that didn't seem to match.
Then she saw it.
Not clearly. Not enough to describe.
Just a figure, across the street. Standing still for a second too long.
Watching.
Her stomach tightened.
When she looked again,
Gone.
"Okay ; no," she whispered to herself, shaking her head slightly. "This is getting weird."
But deep down, she knew she wasn't overthinking.
Because now it wasn't just a feeling.
Now it was a pattern.
The men connected to her work; disappearing.
The stranger who kept appearing and vanishing like a shadow.
And something else. Someone else.
Someone who didn't just watch ,
But waited.
And whatever they wanted,
It wasn't good for her.