Chapter 32 Under Watch
A week later, Amy and I sat in a small café near the office during my lunch break. Lena was a few tables away, pretending to scroll her phone but clearly watching every entrance and exit.
Amy leaned in. “Your bodyguard looks like she could break someone in half.”
I smiled. “She’s cool. I’m getting used to her.”
Amy raised a brow. “And Knox? Still staying with you?”
“Yeah,” I said, stirring my coffee.
Amy’s brows lifted. “He hasn’t left?”
I nodded. “And more clothes have appeared in my closet.”
Her eyes widened. “He’s secretly moving in?”
“It looks like it.”
“And no conversation about it?”
I shrugged. “He hasn’t said anything. And I haven’t asked.”
Amy stared at me. “And you’re just okay with that?”
I looked down at my coffee, tracing the rim of the cup with my finger.
“I don’t hate it,” I admitted. “I feel safer when he’s there. Apple is unhinged.”
“Unhinged is generous,” Amy muttered, already pulling her phone from her pocket.
“Speaking of which… look at this.”
She tapped the screen and turned it toward me. A video clip began to play. A teaser. The logo of a massive podcast flashed across the screen.
Call Me Mommy.
Apple sat in the guest chair, perfectly styled, perfectly lit beneath the studio lights.
The host leaned forward slightly. “Are you ready to talk about everything?”
Apple nodded. “Yes.”
The clip jumped.
“Is it true that your mother is in jail?” the host asked.
“Yes.”
Another quick cut.
“Is it true your sister stole your boyfriend before?”
Apple’s expression turned sad, wounded, almost fragile—then the video cut away before she could answer.
Text appeared across the screen.
FULL EPISODE DROPS IN TWO DAYS.
My eyes widened. “What is this?”
“Apple went on that podcast,” Amy said. “They have forty million followers. The reach is insane.”
I leaned back and looked out the window at the people rushing down the street. “She’ll make me the villain.”
“Very likely,” Amy said. “But we won’t know until it comes out.”
We sat in silence for a moment. Then Amy shifted the conversation.
“I heard from the shelter,” she said. “The women they rescued are getting help. Medical care and counseling.”
Relief settled in my chest.
“If they need more funding,” I said, “I’ll invest.”
Amy smiled faintly. “I knew you’d say that.”
We talked about other things for a while, letting the conversation drift to random gossip. At one point Amy’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen before smirking.
“By the way, do you remember those five guys from high school?”
I frowned. “The guys from high school?”
“The wannabe rapists.”
“What about them?”
“One of them just got accepted into some fancy leadership program. Big press release, lots of inspirational quotes about ‘growth’ and ‘second chances’.”
She took a sip of her iced latte, looking far too pleased with herself.
“So I sent the organizers an anonymous tip about what he did,” she continued. “Attached screenshots. Names. Dates. Everything. They dropped him within an hour.”
I blinked. “You still keep tabs on them?”
“Of course,” she said.
I stared at her. “You are terrifying.”
“Thank you,” she said sweetly. “Every time one of them achieves something, gets a job, finds a girlfriend… I send anonymous reminders of their past. I make sure they never forget. Mommy and Daddy bought them out of jail, but they don’t get to escape me.”
She leaned back, satisfied with herself, and her gaze drifted across the table. Then it landed on my wrist.
“Hold on. Let me see that bracelet.”
I extended my arm, and she reached for the bracelet Knox had given me, turning it slightly.
“You said he gave you this?”
“Yes. There’s a matching necklace too.”
Amy’s fingers paused. “I’m pretty sure there’s a tracker in here.”
I pulled my hand back instinctively. “What?”
I looked at the bracelet, turning it over, studying every detail. “Why would you think that?”
“I’ve seen something similar,” Amy said. “On a site that sells tracker jewelry. They didn’t look identical, but the design elements were close.”
I stared at the bracelet, running my thumb over the clasp. The gold caught the light innocently.
Amy raised a brow. “Does it not bother you that Knox tagged you like a lost pet?”
I considered the question. Surprisingly, the answer came easily.
“Weirdly… no. It doesn’t. But it would have been nice if he told me.”
Amy shook her head. “You are strange. I would be furious.”
I looked down at the bracelet again.
Maybe I was.
But the idea that Knox always knew where I was did not feel like a violation.
It felt like protection.
That same evening my phone buzzed with a message from Amy: a link and a short comment. This has Apple written all over it.
I tapped the link. A TikTok opened. A small tea channel, nothing huge, but loud enough to stir trouble. Dramatic music played as the video began with a picture of me.
The narrator said, “Remember Ashley? The MMA champion Leo girl, the one he called out at his press conference? Looks like she got a nose job to get back into the spotlight.”
I blinked.
The video cut to photos taken from far away. Me standing outside my house. My nose still taped. Bruising under my eyes. The week I had been home recovering.
The narrator continued, “Since Leo stopped mentioning her, she is clearly trying to stay relevant.”
The rest was just as ridiculous. Wild speculation, fake timelines, an entire story built out of nothing.
The only true part was that Leo had mentioned me weeks ago after his win, and the internet had gone crazy trying to figure out who I was. People made videos, theories, edits. Then it faded.
I never posted anything. I never fed it.
Behind me, I heard footsteps. Knox had been in the kitchen, but the TikTok narrator’s voice must have carried.
“What is that nonsense?” he asked.
I turned. “It’s nothing.”
Knox held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”
I passed it to him. He watched the video in silence, his expression darkening with every second. When the clip ended, he exhaled slowly, the kind of breath people take when they are trying not to break something.
“Someone was outside the house,” he said.
“I know.”
“That’s not acceptable.”
Titan nudged my leg, sensing the tension. I reached down and scratched behind his ear.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
My gaze drifted to the bracelet on my wrist. The one Amy had told me probably had a tracker inside. I turned it slowly between my fingers, feeling the weight of it in a new way. If something happened, Knox would know exactly where I was.
“Knox,” I said quietly. “Is there a tracker in this?”
He froze. Not outwardly. Most people wouldn’t have noticed, but I did. The slight stillness. The breath he didn’t immediately release.
Then he exhaled. “Yes.”
I looked up at him. “You didn’t think to mention that?”
“I should have,” he said. “But I needed you to wear it first.”
I frowned. “You could have just told me.”
“I did not want to risk you refusing.” There was no apology in his tone.
He stepped closer, his presence filling the space between us.
“If you had refused,” he continued quietly, “I would have found another way. Your bag. Your car. Your phone. I was not going to lose track of you again. ”
I blinked.
“I wanted to know where you were,” he added. “In case something happened again.”
He reached for my wrist, his fingers brushing lightly over the inside edge of the bracelet.
“It also has an emergency trigger,” he said. “If you press here, it sends your location directly to me. And to Lena.”
I looked down at it again.
“That is… a lot.”
Titan pressed against my leg again, as if siding with Knox.
Knox watched me carefully.
“Are you upset?”
“I’m not upset,” I said. “I just wish you had told me.”
His hand lingered around my wrist for a moment longer before releasing it.
“I’ll tell you next time,” he said.
I felt like he meant it.