Chapter 180: A New Phobia.
Sophia hadn’t left the house all day.
She’d called in sick to Luminous Strands that morning, the first time in months, and spent most of the afternoon moving between rooms like the walls themselves might shift if she stopped paying attention. Every car that slowed on the street drew her to the window. Every creak of the old floorboards made her stomach drop.
It wasn’t random. She was sure of that now.
Whoever had followed her two nights ago hadn’t just stumbled onto her path. They’d matched her pace, waited her out, picked her up again after she’d broken the route. That took intention. And if they’d been patient enough to do all that, there was a very real chance they’d been patient enough to find out exactly which house she disappeared into.
"They know where we live."
She didn’t know what they wanted. That was almost worse. But she’d lived long enough to know the worst-case answer to a question like that was never anything good.
Mateo noticed, of course. He’d come downstairs that morning to find her standing at the front window with her arms wrapped tight around herself, and he’d hovered in the kitchen doorway like he wasn’t sure whether to say something.
"You’re home," he said.
"Took the day off."
"You never take the day off."
"Well, today I did."
He studied her for a moment. "Is this about yesterday? You were weird walking me to the bus stop too."
"I’m not being weird."
"You checked behind us like four times, Sophie."
She turned around then, forcing a smile that didn’t land. "Go finish your breakfast."
He didn’t argue, but he didn’t stop watching her either. And when he left for school, she stood on the porch until the bus pulled away, scanning every parked car on the block, then locked the door behind her and double-checked it twice.
By early afternoon, she was pacing the living room, phone in hand, jaw tight.
This was ridiculous. She had clients waiting, bills that didn’t care about her nerves, a whole routine she’d built from nothing to keep her and Mateo afloat. And some faceless stranger had managed to unravel all of it in a single night without even showing their face.
She kissed her teeth, frustrated, and sank onto the couch.
She thought about the police, but what would she even say?
"Someone walked behind me and I got scared?" They’d take a report, maybe. Then nothing.
There was really only one person she wanted to tell.
She opened her messages and typed before she could talk herself out of it.
[Sophia: Hey. Are you busy?]
The reply came almost instantly — so fast she blinked at the screen.
[Liam: Never too busy for you. What’s up?]
She hesitated, thumb hovering.
[Sophia: Something happened. I need to talk to you.]
[Liam: What happened? Are you okay? Is Mateo okay?]
[Sophia: We’re both fine. Right now.]
[Liam: "Right now"? Sophia, what’s going on?]
She could practically hear the urgency in it, the way the punctuation got sharper with every message. It did something to her chest that she didn’t have time to unpack.
[Sophia: I don’t want to do this over text. It’s serious. Can we talk properly?]
[Liam: Yes. Of course. Call me or I’ll come over, whichever you want.]
[Sophia: Not yet. Later today. I just needed to tell someone.]
[Liam: Okay. But if anything happens before then, anything at all, you call me immediately. I mean it.]
[Sophia: I will.]
[Liam: And keep the doors locked.]
She stared at that last line for a long moment. She hadn’t told him anything — not about being followed, not about the street, not about the shortcut between the houses. And yet somehow he’d landed right on the thing she’d been doing all day.
[Sophia: Already done.]
[Liam: Good. I’m here. Whatever it is.]
Sophia set the phone down on her knee and let out a long, shaky breath — the first real one she’d taken since that night.
She didn’t know what Liam was to her, exactly. Not fully. But she knew that when she’d needed someone, his name was the first one her thumb went to. And he’d answered before she’d even finished asking.
-
Across town, Liam was already sitting up on the edge of the bed, phone gripped tight, the easy warmth of the morning gone from his face entirely.
Vanessa stirred beside him, blinking up at the sudden tension in his shoulders. "Everything okay?"
"I don’t know yet," Liam said quietly, still staring at the screen.
Whatever this was, it had just moved to the top of his list.
Liam was already on his feet, pulling on his jeans with one hand while he typed a reply to Sophia with the other. Vanessa sat up slowly, drawing the sheet around her shoulders, watching him move around the room with a focus she hadn’t seen from him before.
"I have to go," he said, grabbing a clean shirt from the dresser. "Something came up."
"Oh." Vanessa nodded, already glancing around for her dress. "Right. Of course. Give me five minutes and I’ll get out of your way."
Liam paused halfway through buttoning his shirt and looked at her. "Get out of my way?"
"I mean... you’re leaving. I figured you’d want me gone."
"No." He said it simply, like the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind. "Stay. Make yourself at home. There’s coffee in the kitchen, food in the fridge, towels in the hallway closet. Take your time."
Vanessa blinked at him. "You’re just going to leave me here? Alone? In your apartment?"
"Is that a problem?"
"No, it’s just..." She trailed off, not entirely sure how to finish the sentence.
It wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d half-braced herself for the awkward morning-after shuffle — the polite small talk, the quiet hint that it was time to go, the feeling of being ushered out the door. Instead, he was handing her the run of his place like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He wasn’t treating her like a hookup. He was treating her like someone he trusted.
That settled something warm and quiet in her chest.
"When will you be back?" she asked.
Liam grabbed his keys and wallet off the nightstand, checking his phone one more time. "Honestly? I don’t know. Could be an hour, could be longer."
"Is everything okay?"
"I hope so." He leaned down, pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, and straightened up again. "Lock the door when you leave. New lock, it’s solid."
"I won’t stay long," Vanessa said. "I’ve got to get home and change anyway. Penina’s probably filing a missing persons report by now."
That earned a small smile from him, even through the tension. "Tell her I said hi."
"She’ll want details."
"Then give her some," Liam said, already heading for the door. "Just not all of them."
The door shut behind him, and a few seconds later she heard his car start in the driveway and pull away.
Vanessa sat alone in the quiet bedroom, sheet still wrapped around her, and let herself smile.