The line went dead.
I lowered the phone and stared at the screen. My hand stayed steady, but I had to take a long, slow breath to get my temper under control.
Quietly, I slipped out of the room and peeked in on Rowan again. He still hadn't stirred, so I left him alone. He didn't need to know about that call. I didn't want to make him feel even more guilty now that Marcus was trying to target me.
But I also couldn't ignore what just happened. Marcus was escalating with more direct threats, and it was only a matter of time before he tried again. I could almost guarantee he'd call to try to pick at me some more.
So I didn't block the number. I saved it in my contacts instead and took a minute to decide how to label him. I didn't want to just use his actual name in case Rowan caught sight of my screen. A few ideas floated around in my head, and eventually, I settled on "Bin Fire."
Sure enough, another call came in the next afternoon. When my phone buzzed, I was sitting across from Rowan at the kitchen table as we ate a late lunch. I silenced it and let it ring.
Rowan glanced up with a curious look, but I gave him a quick smile and pretended it was nothing. I needed to keep this contained for now so he didn't have to carry even more of the weight.
My phone went silent for a while, but then it rang again. And again. Three calls in the space of five minutes, each one more insistent than the last. Marcus was getting impatient with me. I refused to engage and let him drag me into his twisted mind games.
The next morning, my phone lit up with a new notification for a text from Marcus:Ignoring me won't make me go away, Elias. You're not going to keep him from me.
There it was.
He'd cracked. The calls didn't work, so now he was putting his threats in writing. His arrogance got the better ofhim, and he'd given me something tangible I could use if this all blew up.
Another message came within a few minutes:You can't protect him. You have no idea what I'm capable of.
When I didn't answer, a third text came in:Rowan's mine. He'll always be mine. Nothing you do will change that.
That one bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Even though I knew what Marcus was doing, it didn't fully stop the doubt from creeping in. Still, I pushed the feeling down and set my phone aside.
Another message came in almost immediately, this one more threatening and direct:You can't be around all the time. You'll slip up someday. When you do, I'll be ready.
His threats weren't even subtle anymore. He wanted me to feel it. Second-guess myself. To doubt my ability to keep Rowan safe from him.
He could keep trying. He could throw every mind game he had at me. It wouldn't change a damn thing.
Rowan
26
The door clicked shut behind Eli, and I locked it out of habit. Deadbolt first. Then the chain. I checked both again, even though I knew they were secure.
This was ridiculous. I shouldn't be this nervous to be alone in my own flat. He'd be back in an hour. Two at most. He just had a few things to do.
Still, my hand stayed on the locks.
I hadn't heard anything from Marcus in a couple of weeks. No texts or knocks at the door. It should've been a relief, but the silence put me just as on edge as the noise did.
Marcus wasn't the kind to give up. He'd made it clear that he might step away for a while, but only long enough to make me think I was in the clear. A brief confrontation with Eli in the hall wouldn't be enough to scare him off.
I stepped back from the door and tried to shake it off. But the nerves had already started to crawl up the back of my neck.
I walked back to the sofa and sank into the cushions, pulling my legs up and wrapping my arms tight around my knees. I hadn't sat in this position in years. Childish, maybe, but it made me feel smaller in a way that was easier to manage.
I tried to think of something to do. Anything. I considered putting on some crap telly just for the backgroundnoise, but my hand didn't move toward the remote.
Instead, my mind started to drift. Not even anywhere specific – just that aimless spiral that starts small and builds without much warning. I thought about the camera feed. Whether I should check it. Whether not checking it meant I was letting my guard down. Whether checking it meant I was feeding the fear.
I hated that this was my default now. I couldn't be alone for twenty bloody minutes without feeling like everything would fall apart. I leaned my forehead against my knees and closed my eyes, hoping the quiet might calm me down.
A sharp knock made me jerk so hard my teeth clicked together. My heart stuttered, then took off like it was trying to outrun something. The sound wasn't loud, but it was intentional. I sat up straighter and strained to listen.
