Chapter 77
Instead, I calmly stepped back into my car and shut the door
gently. I pressed the lock button.Click.
I pulled my blindfold from the glove box and leaned the seat back. Carefully, I draped the blindfold across my face but left a
sliver at the bottom so I could watch.
And I did.
He was still there–smoking, murmuring into the phone. His
posture was relaxed, but the tension in his eyes gave him away.
They kept sliding toward me, as if checking whether I was still
inside or had disappeared.
I remained motionless. Breathing shallow. Observing.
Eventually, he ended the call and walked to his car–an older
model with plates I didn’t recognize. He sat in the driver’s seat,
reclined casually, and sipped from a paper cup.
And he didn’t leave.
He didn’t drive away.
He justsat there. In the vehicle directly across from mine. No
rush. No urgency. Just lingering.
નામશે
It wasn’t the only thing bothering me.
Three days ago, when I had left New York in the dead of night. I had noticed a car–same make, same dull gray–behind me for longer than felt reasonable. I had chalked it up to paranoia.
Stress.
But now? Now I was certain.
The fact that both of us had left the city at the same
timeandwere now returning on the same day, on the same highway, stopping at the same service station?
That was no coincidence.
I stayed still for half an hour, barely breathing, muscles stiff
with tension as I lay across the backseat. Through the thin slit
between my fingers and the edge of the blindfold, I kept
watching him. The man hadn’t moved from his vehicle. He was
just… waiting. Still. Too still.
I already knew now that something was off. People didn’t linger
at rest stops for that long without a reason. My instincts kept
whispering that this wasn’t random–and Yve was alert too,
coiled inside me like a spring. Her low growl echoed in my chest,
silent to everyone else, but loud in my blood.
But I had no proof.
Even if I called the police, what would I say? That a man was
Chapter
parked legally at a rest stop and happened to glance in my direction more than once? They’d laugh me off. Or worse- report it. And the last thing I needed right now was to show up
and turned off the engine.
Only when the silence closed in around me did I allow myself to
slump over the steering wheel.
Gone. He was gone.
I whispered it aloud to reassure myself.
“He’s not here.”
But Yve didn’t relax.
I grabbed my bag, exited the car, and locked it three times just for good measure. The hallway back to my place was empty, just the echo of my shoes clicking on the floor. I tapped Ava’s number as I walked, lifting the phone to my ear.
She answered after one ring.
“Liv? Where are you?”
“Home,” I said, letting out a breath. “Something weird happened.
Chapter 77
I think I was being followed all the way from Jersey!”
Ava’s voice sharpened. “What? Are you inside?”
“Not yet,” I said. “I’m at the front door now. Unlocking it.”
She swore under her breath. “Don’t hang up. Stay on the line.
You want me to come over?”
“I don’t know.” I kept my eyes flicking left and right. “I lost him
back at-”
Chapter 78


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