And keeping everything crossed that he’s not fucking cheating on me.
“So?” Leo pries. He’s picking me apart just by looking at me.
“You don’t need to answer that.” Sabrina comes to my defense.
“It’s fine. I’m, uh, I met Sabrina online because we’re both into... clothes.” That could’ve been worded a hundred different ways, and I somehow chose the worst one.
A single brow arches. It’s his first reaction. “Is that your job?”
“It’s currently paying my bills.” Not a lie. My royalties won’t be paid out until later.
A slow hint of a smile plays at his lips. “Suppose that’s what matters. My sister speaks highly of you. She says you’re not the type that would stab her in the back.”
Leo’s comment spears me in the center of my chest.He knows.
“Stop being weird. My gosh,” Sabrina says.
“I just want to make sure your priorities are in line. You can do whatever extracurriculars you’d like, but I’ll always look after my sister.”
What precisely is he referring to when he says extracurriculars?
She huffs. “You’re being overbearing.”
My pulse roars in my ears. “It’s fine.” I swallow, frantically trying to find the right words to say. “I have no intention of hurting Sabrina.” It’s not the full truth, but it’s not a lie either. I may not want to cause her harm, but it doesn’t change the fact that I already have, and there’s no going around the fact that I want to do everything in my power to prevent anything else from happening.
“Good.” He nods in approval. “Then we have no problems.”
My heart thunders in my chest. He’s not seriously trying to imply that... he knows who I am, is he? I’m reading into this, I have to be. Leo would call me out if he actually knows who I am and what my plans are. Right?
I grip my coffee mug, so they don’t notice how badly I’m shaking. This is the end. This is how my months of stalking come to a tragic end, and then he’s going to call the police, and my parents are going to find out, and my entire life is going to be completely and utterly screwed.
Leo rises to his feet and dips his chin to his sister, saying he needs to go to practice. Then he turns to me. “I’ll be seeing you later,Tala.”
Out of everything that’s unfolded over the past ten minutes, there’s only one thing I’m certain about: that sounded like a threat.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mina
The rest of the brunch date with Sabrina goes by in a blur with her carrying the entire conversation while I nod and stew, flip-flopping between being certain he knows who I am and questioning whether I’m reading into the entire thing.
If he knew, he wouldn’t have left his sister alone with me, would he? I wouldn’t. Hell, I barely trust myself as it is.
The questions and doubts follow me out of the café as we both hug our goodbyes and go our separate ways. The streets are quiet, save for the occasional person walking here and there.
The memory of Leo watching me, sitting so close as I breathed the same air as him, sits heavy at the back of my mind. It’s soured by thoughts that the police are going to show up to arrest me, or I’ll be put on blast online for everything I’ve done.
I don’t notice the hooded figure coming my way until my bag is yanked off my shoulder, and a shove sends me stumbling sideways with a ragged cry. First comes the shock, then the realization. In that split second, the entire contents of my bagflashes behind my eyes. My keys, phone, wallet, cash, meds, ID, Kindle. Things I can’t afford to lose.
If he unlocks my phone, I’m done for. Every single one of my dirty secrets will be aired out, and there won’t be a single thing I can do to stop it.
Raw fear propels me to spin around and pursue him for my purse, but he’s sprinting down the street too fast for me to keep up.
I try to make chase. Yell at him to stop. Scream for help. Neither happens.
It gets harder to breathe with each bound of my sneakers against the pavement. The further away he gets, the more my eyes burn with tears until they’re streaming down my face. He’s nothing more than a blurry figure that turns down a street and disappears out of sight.
Nonononono. Fuck.
