K:Send me the number.I’ll give you an explanation tomorrow.
Me:I don’t want an explanation.I want boundaries.
K:Does assigning another guard to follow you even when you’re at work cross your boundaries?
Me:No.
K:Would installing something on your phone to trace all your messages cross a boundary?
Me:No, as long as it’s to figure out who is trying to set me up.If it’s for any other reason, yes.
K:We’ll need to meet tomorrow.Don’t respond to the message, and let me know if they send another one.
Me:Okay.
K:Can we meet for dinner tonight?
Me:Are you serious right now?
K:I miss you.
Me:I’ll block you.Be helpful and fix my problems instead of adding to them.
He didn’t send anything else.
“Would you like to try the necklace on?”
I realized I was clutching my phone and staring blindly at the jewelry in the case.
“Yes, but not that one.This one.”I pointed to a pretty necklace that was now in my price range, thanks to Konni’s help.
Realizing how odd the situation was, I smiled as she moved to open the jewelry case.If not for the targeting, Mom would have never accepted the card Konni had given her.And helping him was helping us, at least financially.
Although if no one had targeted us, I wouldn’t have run into trouble at Steele, and I wouldn’t be so close to Konni now.
That wiped the smile from my face as the saleswoman set the necklace in front of me.
“We have it in yellow and white gold,” she said.
“Thank you,” I said, picking up the necklace and discreetly checking the price as I tried it on.The saleswoman moved the mirror so I could see it on myself.
“I’ll take it,” I said, thinking of how it would look with the outfit Mom just bought for me.
The woman accepted my credit card and carried it and the necklace to the back, leaving me to continue browsing.My phone buzzed again.
K:Send me a picture of what you like.
I casually glanced at the jewelry case again before looking outside the window.The woman I glimpsed getting out of the rideshare at my house was lingering across the street, playing with her phone until the light changed and she crossed.
Acting like I was just distracting myself as I waited, I scanned the rest of the crowd on the sidewalk and saw another familiar person getting out of a car at the curb.
“Here you are, Miss,” the saleswoman said, recalling my attention.
I took the bag and my credit card from her and headed for the door, hoping my father’s wife wouldn’t recognize me.Fate wasn’t that kind, though.Her gaze locked with mine, and she veered toward me on the sidewalk.
“Sophia, you should be more self-aware.”
“I’m not the one who approached you,” I said.
