“Okay, sure. Meet me there at six?”
“Okay, love you bye.”
“Love you bye.”
Thank God.
As long as she’s with me, he won’t risk trying anything—or at least, that’s what I’m banking on. Until I know more about him, I need to stick to her like glue.
I’ll explain everything eventually.
But not yet.
She doesn’t need panic laced into her morning routine. Not when I’m already doing enough of that for both of us.
“I’m going to catch him, Boomerang,” I mutter, watching him lick himself shamelessly on the edge of the sofa—legs splayed, zero regard for modesty. “I’m going to make that sick bastard pay for whatever it is he’s planning for her.”
I pick stray ginger hairs off my blanket, letting them fall to the floor with the kind of defiance only someone deeply in over their head can muster. Vacuuming’s a tomorrow problem.
Right now?
I’ve got business.
Turns out, I don’t own any proper gym wear—not anymore. I’ve dropped weight since Adam left me splintered, and all my old leggings sag in ways that scream ‘discount loungewear.’
So I settle for sweats and a crop top.
Safe. Neutral. Nothing flashy.
The crop top’s a quiet rebellion—I’ve actually got a waist now. That should feel good… sort of. The stretch marks are still there, stubborn little ghosts of the girl I used to be. Maybe one day I’ll laser them away.
When I’m not buried in debt.
When I’m not pretending to be a PI in a hoodie.
I leave my hair loose and tug my cap low, shielding my eyes just enough. If stalker boy’s out there—and let’s be real, he is—at least I won’t be instantly recognisable.
Incognito mode: fully activated.
7
Cam
My phone pings. She’s left the office—off to her spin class, like clockwork. Predictable to a fault.
With the Manticore Network closing in, I can’t afford complacency. Every minute counts now. I need to be ready to move the second the ground shifts.
Talia’s already tracking their patterns, trying to carve a timeline out of smoke. If she manages to pin something down, she’ll send it over. At least then I’ll have a better idea of when the hammer’s going to fall.
Until then, I’m stuck operating at a distance.
I pull my hood up, hands shoved deep in my pockets as I step out into the chill. The air bites—a quiet warning that summer’s packing its bags. The streets have lost their glow, and the wind cuts sharper at night. Riding’s been fun, but that window’s closing. I’ve taken too many spills in the rain to keep pretending it’s still safe.
Her GPS ping is on the move, and I follow like the silent shadow I am, keeping enough distance to remain hidden. She’s with her friend tonight though, which is out of the ordinary for her. She usually attends spin class alone.
I can’t quite see her friends face, but I make note to find out about her later. If Manticore are after Darcy, there’s a chance they could try and snatch this girl too if she’s not careful. They have a habit of that, moving onto girls close to the victim.
The tall glass windows allow me to watch with ease, the lights so bright inside they might as well be in a fishbowl. You would have thought a gym would offer a little more privacy than this, but it’s not my place to judge. It’s just… if it was me, I would have chosen a more… enclosed gym.
