Chapter 181: S.O.S?
Liam made the drive in half the time it should have taken.
He pulled up across from Sophia’s place and cut the engine, and the first thing he noticed was the front window. The blinds were parted, just barely, a thin dark gap between two slats. As he watched, the gap narrowed and closed.
She’d been watching the street.
Liam frowned. It was the middle of a weekday. Sophia should have been at the salon, elbow-deep in a client’s color appointment, not standing guard behind her own blinds. But he pushed the question aside. Whatever had kept her home, she’d tell him when she was ready.
He crossed the street quickly and knocked twice.
The locks turned, one, then a second, then the chain slid free. The door opened a few inches, and Sophia’s face appeared in the gap.
Liam’s stomach tightened. He’d seen her tired, stressed, overwhelmed by Mateo and bills and everything else she carried alone. He’d never seen her afraid. It was there now, plain in her eyes, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it.
He leaned in close and kept his voice low. "Is someone inside?"
Sophia shook her head.
Only then did he step through. She shut the door behind him and locked it again immediately, all three locks, her hands not quite steady.
Liam turned to face her and rested both hands on her shoulders, gently, grounding her. "Sophia. Look at me. What’s wrong?"
She took a breath, and then it all came out.
"Two nights ago, after my shift, I stopped by the grocery store. Just milk, something for Mateo’s lunch. Nothing big." She swallowed. "There was someone in there. A couple of aisles over. Every time I moved, they moved. I told myself I was being stupid. People shop."
"Okay."
"Then I walked out, and they were behind me. Not close. Far enough that I couldn’t see a face. But when I walked faster, they walked faster. When I slowed down, they slowed down." Her voice thinned.
"I didn’t look back. I was too scared to look back."
Liam’s grip on her shoulders stayed steady. "Then what?"
"I ran into Denise. You don’t know her, she used to work at the salon. She was outside a corner store smoking, and I practically threw myself at her. We talked for maybe five minutes. When I looked past her, there was nobody there anymore." She laughed, but it wasn’t really a laugh. "I thought, great, I imagined it. I’m just tired."
"But you didn’t imagine it."
"No." She shook her head. "As soon as I started walking again, I felt it. And I realized stopping was a mistake. It gave them time to catch up without me seeing. So I changed my route. Side streets I never use. I thought there was no way anyone could guess that."
"And?"
"And they were still there." Her eyes glistened. "The new way was quieter. Fewer people. Fewer lights. I kept thinking, if something happens here, nobody’s going to see it."
Liam’s jaw tightened, but he kept his voice calm. "How’d you get home?"
"I didn’t. Not at first." She looked down. "I got close to the house and stopped, because if they followed me to the door, they’d know where Mateo sleeps. I turned around and the street was empty. Completely empty. But I knew someone was there."
"So what did you do?"
"There’s this little gap between two houses down the block. Mateo showed it to me once on his bike, and I yelled at him for it." A weak smile flickered and died.
"I cut through there and hid against someone’s garage. I waited until I was sure. Then I came home the long way, from the other direction."
She finally looked back up at him.
"Liam, I never saw who it was. Not once. But it wasn’t random. They were following me, and I think they know where we live."
By the time Sophia finished, Liam’s face had changed completely. Whatever warmth had been there when he walked in was gone, replaced by something hard and focused.
He didn’t say anything. He just let go of her shoulders, pulled out his phone, and stepped toward the window.
Sophia stood frozen in the middle of the living room, arms wrapped around herself, watching him dial.
"Yes, good afternoon," Liam said when the line picked up.
"I’m looking for private residential security. Round-the-clock coverage, starting as soon as possible."
Sophia’s brows drew together.
"A single-family home. Two residents, one adult, one minor. There’s been a credible incident, someone followed her home two nights ago." A pause. "No, I don’t need the police involved right now. I need people on the ground watching the property."
He listened, nodding, then shook his head at whatever they said. "Tomorrow’s too late. What can you have here tonight?"
Another pause.
"Fine. Send me the contract. Cost isn’t the issue."
He hung up and immediately dialed a second number, then a third, comparing response times, asking about vetting, about rotating shifts, about whether their people could quietly follow a sixteen-year-old to and from school without making him a spectacle.
Sophia listened to every word, and slowly it sank in. He wasn’t calling the police. He’d skipped straight past them. He knew, the same way she did, that a police report wouldn’t make her feel safe. A report was paper. What she needed was someone actually standing outside the door.
He was buying her that.
When he finally ended the last call, he slipped the phone into his pocket and crossed the room in three steps. Before she could say anything, he pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"There’ll be a team here by tonight," he said quietly. "Outside the house, and with Mateo when he’s going to and from school. For as long as you need them."
"Liam, you can’t just—"
"I already did." He drew back just enough to look at her. "As long as I’m around, nothing touches you or Mateo. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure of that."
Sophia stared up at him, and something in her chest gave way.
For years, she had been the one holding everything together. The parent, the provider, the one who never got to fall apart because someone else was always depending on her.
Now someone was standing between her and the danger instead.
She leaned into him, closed her eyes, and let herself be held.