Part 38
The city still slept when Adrian left.
No luggage. Just a duffel bag, a phone with no SIM card, and a cap pulled low over his face.
He moved like someone rehearsing invisibility — eyes down, breath shallow, one hand always brushing the strap of his bag as if it contained his heartbeat.
Leah's car waited in the alley behind the café.
She didn't ask questions.
She only said, quietly,
"Don't look back until we're out of this city."
After secretly meeting on the rooftop, they planned their escape together. Adrian felt something close to relief.
The weight in his chest didn't vanish — it shifted.
He wasn't free, not yet, but he was moving.
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They drove for hours, the city shrinking behind them into a blur of dull light.
Leah spoke softly, her voice the kind of calm that invited confession.
"Whoever it is, they won't find you easily," she said.
"You've been watched before, but not by people like me. I know how to disappear."
Adrian wanted to believe her.
But when he closed his eyes, he could still smell flower — faint, floral, ghostlike — clinging to his clothes.
He told himself it was memory.
He didn't see the small tracking device, no bigger than a grain of rice, tucked inside the lining of his duffel bag.
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Across the city, in a quiet apartment full of monitors, Alex watched the empty apartment feed.
The silence was too clean.
No movement, no signal, no trace.
Her stomach twisted.
Not anger.
Fear.
She whispered,
"You've been taken."
Within minutes, she was already rebuilding the map.
Cross-referencing Adrian's old messages, his previous contacts, the journalists who had written about him.
Leah Ford's name surfaced like a flare.
Alex clicked open a database, finding Leah's most recent address.
Then she began typing, her message smooth, polite, precise —
From: "A. Management Liaison"
Subject: "Regarding Mr. Adrian's Safety"
Ms. Ford,
We've been informed of Mr. Adrian's situation and want to ensure he receives appropriate care. Please confirm his current location so our team can secure private arrangements. This is for his protection.
Before sending it, she paused.
Her reflection in the screen looked calm, almost serene.
"You don't have to run, Adrian," she murmured.
"I'll find you, and I'll bring you back."
She pressed Send.