I snap my head up, my gut twisting.Asher.
His smirk is infuriating, his dark eyes glinting with something unreadable.
My pulse spikes.How does he know? How could he possibly know I’m running?
“Get out of my way,” I bite out, my voice shaking more than I want it to.
He doesn’t move. “Get in the car”
I let out a harsh laugh. “Not a chance. Fuck off, Asher.”
His smirk deepens as he takes a step back, hands raised in mock surrender. “Come on, Kitten. You really think you can do this alone?”
I stiffen. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His eyes flick over me, reading me too easily. “Sure you don’t.”
A chill creeps up my spine.Why is he here? Why does he keep showing up?
I take a step back. “Why would I get in a car with a near-stranger?”
A shiver skates down my spine, not just from his presence but from the gnawing certainty that someone else is watching too. The break-in. The message. ‘You killed my family. I will kill yours.’ It’s etched behind my eyelids now, impossible to forget.
His smirk doesn’t falter. Then he sighs, placing a hand over his chest like I’ve wounded him. “And here I thought we weren’t strangers anymore. Not after the way you came on my fingers.”
My stomach drops, heat rushing to my face, but I force myself to turn away, pushing past him.
His voice follows me.
“I’ll be seeing you, Kitten.”
I take the long way home, doubling back twice, slipping into side streets, watching for tails. My paranoia is justified—I know it is. Because if Asher found me at the airport, who else is watching?Who else knows?I can’t afford to be reckless.
By the time I reach my apartment, my nerves are stretched so tight they hum. My hand shakes as I jam the key into the lock, twisting harder than necessary. The door sticks, then groans open.
I step inside and slam it shut behind me.
Relief lasts exactly half a second.
The air feels… wrong. Heavy. Like it’s been disturbed. Like it remembers someone else breathing in it.
I don’t even get the door locked before the sensation hits—prickling heat crawling up my spine. That unmistakable feeling of being watched.
Then—
Slow. Deliberate.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
“Took you long enough, Kitten.”
My blood flash-freezes.
I spin, heart punching my ribs hard enough to bruise.
Asher Redmont is stretched out on my couch like he pays rent. One arm draped over the back. Long legs crossed at the ankle, completely at ease in my space.
I blink once. Twice.
