Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert) novel Chapter 578

Everything happened way too fast.

Lester, quick on his feet, managed to raise an arm in defense, but he still couldn’t avoid the sneak attack entirely—a blast of pepper spray left one of his eyes stinging and blurry.

Sylvia glanced outside, startled. “Ms. Ward? What are you doing?”

Ms. Ward froze in the hallway, realizing who she’d just sprayed. The canister slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was you guys!”

Sylvia’s gaze dropped to the rolling can on the floor. Pepper spray—of course.

She quickly ushered Lester inside, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and helping him rinse his eye. Thankfully, he’d blocked most of it, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

After a couple minutes, Lester took the towel Sylvia handed him and dabbed at his face. “I’m okay. Really.”

Sylvia breathed a sigh of relief, pulling out her phone to order some over-the-counter eye drops for same-day delivery.

Then she finally turned to Ms. Ward, who was standing in the foyer looking as guilty as a kid caught sneaking cookies before dinner.

“Ms. Ward, what happened?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Ms. Ward said, wide-eyed. “There have been reports about single women in our area being followed. It’s been all over the news. I felt like someone was tailing me tonight, so I—” She shot an apologetic look at Lester. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sanford.”

Lester managed a small laugh. “It’s alright. But are you sure someone was following you?”

Ms. Ward nodded emphatically. “Ever since I got scammed by that guy last month, I’m super cautious around men. I don’t even let the delivery drivers bring food up to my apartment anymore. Yesterday, while I was picking up my dinner downstairs, I saw this man hanging around the entrance, glancing inside like he was looking for someone.”

“I asked who he was looking for, and he said he was working on renovations in the building next door. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

She took a shaky breath. “Tonight, I got off the bus early to buy apples from the fruit stand near the entrance, and I saw him again. He followed me all the way back.”

“If he really was a contractor, there’s nothing strange about him coming in, but then I remembered—yesterday, he leaned in to look at my takeout and asked what it was, how it tasted. I think he was trying to see how much food I ordered, maybe how many sets of utensils, to figure out if I live alone.”

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