Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Do you believe in fate, Adeline?
Shock freezes my expression, and a wave of pure fear clenches at my chest. Oh jeez.
Naomi, her eyes wide with concern, hesitates before asking, “Please tell me you know who that’s from.”
I shake my head, unable to look away from the screen.
“It must be some kind of joke,” she suggests, her voice a mere whisper as she stares at the words in pure horror.
My stomach sinks. “No… it’s happened before,” I admit, and her eyes widen.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” she asks, as if she would have done anything if I had.
I shrug, not breaking my stare from the screen. “I thought it was a joke too,” I mumble, but even then, it hadn’t felt like a joke. Not really.
“You should reply. See what they want,” Naomi suggests.
Swallowing hard, I force myself to tap out a response: Who is this?
Naomi and I wait anxiously. Very anxiously.
The seconds crawl by, agonizingly slow, and a bead of sweat trickles down my temple.
Then, the typing bubble appears. My chest tightens instantly, my breath catching as dread coils in my stomach.
My pulse pounds, the anticipation suffocating—until finally, the message appears: I believe fate brought you and your sister here.
My fingers go numb as the phone almost slips from my grasp. But before I can even fully digest that awful message, another one follows:
Look around. Look familiar?
I whip my head up, my heart slamming against my ribcage. Familiar? What does that even mean?
“Does that mean they can see us?” Naomi asks, her voice breaking.
My eyes dart around the alleyway. The cracked bricks. The rusty dumpsters. The stench of dirt. Then it hits me.
I know this place. And I know it well. Or at least I used to. Dad used to bring us here. “Wait in the car,” he’d say, every single time. But I’d watched from the window, memorized the way the light slanted through the buildings, the graffiti sprawled across the walls.
My stomach twists violently. My body feels like lead, like I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.
“This is the alley Dad used to take us to,” I mumble, my words hardly forming. Naomi’s eyes enlarge as a flash of recognition appears on her face.
She stutters, “How… how do they know about this?”
A wave of sickness sweeps over me, nauseating. This can’t be a coincidence. Or a joke. Those options evaporated long ago and I was just too na?ve to see it. Because there’s someone out there who knows us. And they’ve been watching. For far longer than I ever imagined.
“We need to leave. Now.” I force my legs to move, and my mouth to get words out, as every nerve in my body screams at me to run, to get as far away from this alley—this feeling—as possible.
“Do you feel it too?” Naomi whispers, clutching my arm as we quicken our pace.
“Yeah.” My voice is tight, barely a croak. “But it’s probably nothing.”
It’s not nothing. It’s never nothing.
Naomi mutters something under her breath, but I barely register it.
My senses are on fire. Everything is suddenly amplified, whether it’s the crunch of snow that hardly even passes for snow, or the faint hum of the wind in the alley.
I glance over my shoulder just in case, expecting to see…
what? Someone standing there? Eyes peering at us from the shadows? I’m not entirely sure.
Each time I look back, there’s nothing. But every time I do, my heart skips a beat, and my breath catches in my throat.
But the feeling remains. And that’s enough to convince me there’s something seriously wrong.
***
Walking into the café, Naomi is still shaking.
But she turns to me with a hesitant request. “Do you mind if I just stay here for your shift?” she asks. “I’ll find somewhere to sit.”
“But I thought you —” I stop myself before I’m able to finish. I can see the fear in Naomi’s eyes, the lingering horror in her voice. It isn’t the time to argue. “Okay, that’s fine,” I reply, a slight smile tugging at the corners of my lips. “I’ll come over at my break.”
With that settled, I make my way to the counter, where Camille stands. She beams at me, her usual bubbly self. “Hey!” she chirps, but her smile falters when she spots Naomi. Her lips twist into a scowl. “You brought your sister? What, is she finally ready to
work?” she sneers.
I tense. Camille has never liked Naomi.
I hesitate for a moment, mostly because I don’t even know the answer to that question anymore. “I don’t think so,” I admit. “She offered, then… well, I don’t know.”
Camille rolls her eyes. “Figures,” she mutters under her breath. “That girl needs to grow up and get off her selfish butt.”
I reach into my bag and pull out Camille’s phone. “I’m really
sorry,” I begin, handing it to her.
She blinks at me, confused. “What for?”
“After you left for the event, I realized you forgot your phone,” I sigh, my words rushing out.
“I knew how much you wanted to take pictures of everything, so I took a taxi to give it to you. But then at the gates, this stupid security guard, Steve, wouldn’t let me through.
” I pause, gathering my thoughts before continuing.
“Then, you won’t believe it. This weird woman came out and started saying that, apparently, I was the new waitress, which should have been you.
I tried to escape, I really did, but she just dragged me along.
” I pause hearing Camille gasp. “I know, right? Then she dressed me in this waitress dress, which was way too short. And, well… this rich-looking man comes along, saying apparently, I replaced you.”
I cringe, expecting her to explode, but instead, Camille bursts out laughing.
“You’re kidding!” she says between gasps for air.
“I wish I were,” I mutter, heat rising to my cheeks.
As her laughter subsides, I still can’t believe she isn’t furious at me right now. I cautiously ask, “So you’re not mad?”
“Mad? Are you joking? That’s hilarious!” She waves a hand dismissively. “You were trying to help, Addie. Honestly, it’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.”
A sigh of relief escapes my lips, the tension in my shoulders melting away. “That’s good. Really good. Actually, it’s…” I begin, but I don’t get very far because Rick’s voice cuts through the café. “Addie, we need to talk.”
I turn to see him standing near the counter, his arms crossed. A boy sits on the floor beside him. A boy I don’t recognize. It seems he finds the situation rather entertaining. So not relatable.
Heart sinking, I reluctantly walk over. “What’s up?” I ask, forcing a smile.
Rick doesn’t bother with pleasantries. “Almost thirty minutes late today,” he says, his voice heavy with disappointment. “Addie, you can’t keep doing this. If it happens again, I’ll have no choice but to let you go.”
My stomach twists, and a cold sweat breaks out on my skin. Losing this job isn’t an option. I need it.
“I’m really sorry, Rick,” I blurt out. “I promise it won’t happen again. Please, just give me another chance.”
He sighs, some of the hardness in his expression softening. “I know you’ve got a lot going on, and I appreciate your effort. But this is your final warning. Understood?”
“Understood,” I say quickly, relief flooding through me.
Before Rick can say anything else, the boy pipes up, a smirk tugging at his lips. “So, you’re not even going to introduce me?” There’s a slight edge to his tone. “Do you want me to tell Dad that—”
Rick stiffens. “Oh, no, no need for that,” he says, cutting off the boy’s words with a forced smile. “Adeline, this is Cody. My nephew.”
I blink in surprise but manage to muster up a smile. “Nice to meet you, Cody. I’m Adeline.”
***
I glance at the list of orders, running through them like a checklist in my head.
Latte, mocha, flat white—easy enough. I start preparing the latte, carefully measuring the coffee grounds and pouring the steamed milk, creating a perfect layer of froth on top.
I’ve been getting pretty good at that, if I do say so myself.
But just as I admire my masterpiece, my focus is pulled by the escalating noise from Rick and Cody. Frothing milk can only drown out so much, and they’re practically having a shouting match.
I glance over my shoulder and immediately notice the impending storm brewing in Rick’s face. He looks like he’s just about to burst. And Cody seems to be well aware of it, relishing in it in fact. He’s grinning.
Cody’s mischievous eyes catch mine. “I think I broke your
boss,” he deadpans.
I bite back a laugh. “I can see that,” I reply, keeping my voice light.
“I still can’t believe he’s your boss,” he adds, shaking his head, looking genuinely confused at the thought.
Rick’s face darkens further, his jaw clenched so tight I’m half-worried his teeth will shatter. He looks like he’s running through a list of plausible ways to get away with murder, but Cody doesn’t seem the least bit concerned.
Then Rick’s phone rings, cutting through the tension. He shoots me a glare—because apparently, this is somehow my fault—before answering it. “Hey, Mum,” he says, his voice strained.
Cody snorts, and I can feel the trouble brewing before he even speaks. “Of course, it’s his mum,” he says loudly enough for everyone to hear. “As if anyone else would call him.”
I slap a hand over my mouth to muffle my laugh. Camille, standing behind me, doesn’t even bother trying to hide hers.
Rick shoots Cody a sharp glare, to which he flashes an innocent smile, completely unfazed. “Just pointing out the malfunctions in your social life,” he says with a shrug.
I hear Camille chuckle from behind me.
Her chuckle falls into a whisper. “Now that’s what he gets for trying to fire you,” she says. “Karma’s a bitch. And in this case, its name is Cody.”
Camille leans over, whispering to me through her giggles, “I think we should keep him around. He’s chaos, but, like, the fun kind.”
Rick, meanwhile, looks like he’s about to combust. He might as well have steam coming out of his ears.