The texts had started coming from a new number around sunset.
Unknown Number.
I know where you work.
Then, twenty minutes later:
Unknown Number.
I know where you live.
Then, just before dark:
Unknown Number.
You can run but I'll always find you.
I should call someone and ask for help. The sheriff. Joanna. Anyone. But my hands felt frozen, my body locked in the particular paralysis that Evan had always been able to trigger. Fight or flight, people said, but there was a third option they never talked about. Freeze. Just stop, like a deer in headlights, hoping the predator would pass you by.
Across the hall, I heard a door open. Footsteps. Cal's footsteps. I'd learned to recognize them over six months of shared walls and careful distance. Heavy and deliberate, the walk of someone who carried weight even when hishands were empty.
The footsteps paused. Silence stretched.
Then I heard his door close, and I was alone again.
I thought about knocking on his door. Thought about walking across the hall and asking for help, admitting that I was scared, admitting that I couldn't handle this alone.
But Cal was Mateo's best friend and also Mateo's captain. The man who'd been there when my fiancé died, who carried whatever happened in that warehouse like a stone around his neck. We'd spent six months pretending we didn't know each other, pretending there wasn't a dead man standing between us, and breaking that silence now felt impossible.
What would I even say?Hi, remember me? Your best friend's fiancée? The one you couldn't save? By the way, my abusive ex tracked me down and I'm terrified and I don't know what to do.
And then what? He'd feel obligated to help. He'd get tangled up in my mess, my history, my curse. Everyone I loved got hurt. Everyone I let close got destroyed.
I couldn't do that to him. Couldn't add his name to the list of people I'd failed.
I stayed on the floor until my legs went numb, listening to the silence of the building, the distant sounds of traffic, my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
The phone lit up one more time.
Unknown Number.
You can't ignore me forever.
I turned the phone face down and pressed my palms against my eyes until I saw stars.
Maybe he was bluffing. Maybe he was still in Denver, sending threats from a distance, trying to scare me into responding. Maybe if I just stayed quiet long enough, he'd get bored and move on.
Maybe.
But I checked the lock one more time before I finally crawled into bed. And I didn't sleep until the sun came up.
CHAPTER 4
Lucy
Three weeks.Hundreds of texts. And until then, he wasn't just messaging anymore.
I worked a double shift at the café because I couldn't stand to be alone in my apartment, couldn't stand the silence that made every buzz of my phone sound like a scream. The exhaustion helped, in a way. It's hard to feel terrified when you're too tired to feel anything at all.
