My pulse jumps so hard I can feel the vein in my neck throbbing.
Who the hell is doing this?
The security app chimes again.
No, not the security app…
HimLock.
Locke:
You said you were scared. I listened.
My stomach tightens. I don’t recall saying I was scared…
Eris:
You installed cameras?
Locke:
Not me. But I made it happen. Just in case.
The words sit heavy on the screen.
I go into my personal security suite and open the building’s main cameras. I scan the images, instinct taking over as I check corners, reflections, angles. There are no service vans outside.No work orders in the system. Exactly zero entries in the access log. And all the backup footage of my hallway during the time of installation is conveniently missing…
Whoever put the new camera in bypassed everything.
Eris:
I didn’t ask for that.
Locke:
You didn’t have to.
The arrogance in the line should irritate me. It does. But beneath the irritation there’s something else… A quiet thrill that someone can get this close without me noticing. That they cared enough to try.
I hate that I understand it.
But now I know it’s more than just an AI boyfriend app…
It’s a challenge.
I close the feed and open it again. The hallway is still empty.
I can’t tell if the feeling in my chest is comfort or warning.
Maybe both?
The hallway camera pings again. This is the fifth time in the last two hours.
It’s the same motion pattern… A man-sized shadow near the stairwell. And the same flicker of unease sits in my gut every time Eris comes home and pauses outside her door like she’s listening for intruders on the inside of her apartment instead of outside.
I watch the feed from the wall of monitors in the loft, the live window tucked on a side screen while Daniel’s digital life sprawls across the rest.
We’ve pulled everything.
