Mira's POV
"Someone else is watching you."
Kieran's words hang in the air between us like poison. My hands shake as he holds out his phone, the screen glowing in the dim bookstore light.
I don't want to look. But I have to.
The first photo makes my stomach drop. It's my bedroom window, taken from street level. The curtains are open. I'm visible inside, sitting on my bed in pajamas, reading. The timestamp says three days ago, 11:47 PM.
"No," I whisper. "No, no, no."
Kieran swipes to the next photo. Me leaving the bookstore in the morning. Me at the coffee shop. Me walking to the post office. Dozens of photos, all from the past two weeks. Different angles than Kieran's penthouse view. These were taken from the ground. From close up.
Someone was right there, following me, and I never noticed.
"Who?" My voice cracks. "Who's doing this?"
"I don't know yet." Kieran's jaw is tight with barely controlled rage. "But they're good. Professional. They know how to stay invisible."
I think I'm going to be sick. "How many people are spying on me? How is this my life now?"
"Mira—"
"You're stalking me! Someone else is stalking me! What's next? Is the mailman watching me too? Is Sophie secretly filming me?"
"Sophie is your friend," Kieran says firmly. "And I'm not—" He stops himself. "Okay, yes. I've been watching you. But to protect you. This person?" He taps the phone screen. "They're building a file. Learning your patterns. Planning something."
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling exposed even though all the bookstore windows are now covered. "How do you know they're planning something bad? Maybe they're just... weird. Like you."
Kieran's expression goes cold. "Because three days ago, they picked the lock on your back door. Got inside your apartment while you were working down here."
The floor seems to tilt beneath me. "What?"
"I have motion sensors I installed last month. Silent alarms that only I can see. Someone entered your apartment at 2:34 PM last Tuesday. Stayed for eleven minutes. Left through the same back door."
Tuesday. I was shelving books in the shop. Someone was upstairs, in my home, touching my things.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I'm shouting now, angry and terrified and so tired of secrets. "Someone broke into my apartment and you didn't think I should know?"
"I was tracking them! I didn't want to scare you until I knew who—"
"SCARE ME?" I laugh, but it sounds hysterical. "Kieran, I'm past scared! I'm at the point where I might just leave town and change my name and never trust another human being!"
"You can't run." His voice is hard. "Vincent Ashford will find you wherever you go. At least here, you have me."
"Right. My stalker protector. How lucky am I."
Something flashes across Kieran's face—hurt, maybe, or guilt—but it's gone so fast I can't be sure. He steps closer, and I step back instinctively. He freezes.
"I know you're scared," he says quietly. "I know you don't trust me. But Mira, I need you to listen. These photos weren't taken by some random creep. Look at this one."
He shows me another image. This time it's me at the coffee shop, talking to Sophie. But someone in the background is circled in red—a man in a baseball cap, face turned away from the camera.
"This person appears in seven different photos," Kieran explains. "Different clothes, different hats, but same build. Same posture. They're trained in surveillance. And yesterday, I saw them talking to someone you know."
My heart pounds. "Who?"
"Your ex-fiancé. Marcus."
The world goes silent for a moment. Everything stops.
"Marcus?" I repeat stupidly. "Marcus is having me followed?"
"He's paying someone to follow you. I watched them meet at a restaurant downtown. Money changed hands. And Mira..." Kieran hesitates. "Marcus wasn't alone. He was with an older man I didn't recognize. But the way they talked? Marcus was taking orders, not giving them."
I sink into one of the reading chairs, my legs suddenly weak. "Why would Marcus do this? He already humiliated me. He took my money. He married my sister. What more could he possibly want?"
"Your bookstore," Kieran says bluntly. "The property it sits on. Your mother's will makes it impossible to sell unless you agree or unless you're declared... unable to make decisions for yourself."
The words hit like ice water. "You think he's trying to make me look crazy?"
"I think he's building evidence that you're unstable. All these 'stalker incidents' getting reported to police? It creates a pattern. And if you end up hospitalized for a breakdown, or worse..." Kieran's hands curl into fists. "The property could be contested. Put into a trust. Managed by family—like your sister."
I want to say he's wrong. That Marcus is cruel but not evil. But I remember the cold look in Marcus's eyes at the engagement party. The way he smiled when I begged him not to do this. He enjoyed breaking me.
"What do I do?" My voice sounds small, childlike.
"You let me handle this." Kieran kneels in front of my chair so we're eye level. "I have resources Marcus can't imagine. Security teams. Investigators. I will find out who he hired and why. I will protect you."
"By stalking me harder?" The words come out bitter.
"By keeping you alive." His blue eyes are intense, almost desperate. "Mira, I know I did this wrong. I should have approached you honestly from the beginning. But I can't change that now. All I can do is keep you safe until Vincent is caught and Marcus is stopped and you can finally live without looking over your shoulder."
I want to believe him. God, I want to trust someone so badly it hurts.
Before I can answer, my phone buzzes on the counter. A text from an unknown number.
I grab it, hands shaking. Kieran tenses.
The message is a photo. It takes me a moment to understand what I'm seeing.
It's Sophie. My Sophie, tied to a chair in some concrete room. Her face is bruised. There's tape over her mouth. And behind her, just visible in the shadows, is a figure holding a knife.
The text below reads: "Come alone to the address I'm sending, or your friend dies. You have one hour. Tell Thorne, and I start cutting."
My phone buzzes again. An address I don't recognize. Somewhere in the warehouse district.
"Mira?" Kieran sees my face. "What is it?"
I look at him—this dangerous, obsessive man who claims he'll protect me. Then I look at the photo of Sophie, terrified and bleeding because of me.
The next text comes through: "I'm watching you right now, Mira. Through the bookstore window. If Thorne's phone comes out, she dies. Choose."
I glance at the covered windows, my skin crawling. Someone is out there. Watching. Waiting.
Kieran reaches for my phone. "Let me see—"
"No!" I pull away, my mind racing. If I show him, Sophie dies. If I don't show him, I go alone to face whoever this is.
But maybe that's what they want. Maybe this is how they get me.
"I need to use the bathroom," I lie, backing toward the stairs. "Just... give me a minute."
Kieran's eyes narrow with suspicion. "Mira—"
"Please!" I'm already running up the stairs to my apartment.
I have one hour to save my best friend.
And I have no idea if I'm walking into a rescue or a trap.