Chapter 8 Kieran
“She’s not answering again?” I ask, pacing near the side of the building with my hood up, cap pulled low over my face. “You’re sure that plate is his?”
“Ohio rental tags. Same make and model with a dent in the rear bumper. It’s him.” Silas’s voice comes in low and lethal through my earbuds. “Jace is talking to Eris through HimLock. She’s fine.”
I watch the nondescript black car idling less than half a block down. The headlights are off, but I can see the glow of his phone hitting his face through the windshield.
Daniel.
Fucking Daniel is once again posted up outside Eris’s apartment.
He hasn’t moved since we spotted him on the camera over an hour ago.
I walked from our loft to the swanky downtown complex, and I’ve just been standing unnoticed in the shadows, quietly judging Daniel’s parking job.
The compact sedan is so crooked, its tail end is hanging into the street…
He looks like a junkie waiting for the dealer to show.
Except… He’s just watching her window.
“I don’t like this,” I mutter.
Silas exhales harshly, the sound tickling my ear. “Neither do I.”
The driver’s side door finally opens, and my entire body goes eerily still.
“Silas?”
“Talk to me,” he snaps.
“He’s getting out.”
I slip deeper into the shadows, behind the hedge-line at the side of the building.
From here, I have a clean angle, enough to see Daniel has something tucked under the left side of his coat.
He maneuvers himself and the item, but it looks like he can’t make it work. That’s when he pulls the something out.
“Tell me what you see,” Silas demands, then mumbles something to Jace in the background.
“Roses,” I bite out. “Fucking white roses.”
Silas remains silent as he waits for more information from me.
Daniel doesn't look at the front entrance of Eris’s apartment complex, doesn’t even pretend he’s here for something normal.
No.
He walks straight to her side of the building, almost as if he’s making a beeline for me.
But it’s not me he’s after.
It’s her second-floor balcony.
My pulse spikes, thundering against my neck as I adjust my hiding spot, following him fast but quietly. My shoes barely make a whisper on concrete.
“He’s going to climb—”
“He’s what?” Silas barks.
“The side of the goddamn building using the railing of the veranda and the drainpipes.”
I back up and crouch behind the low brick wall, watching in disgust as Daniel scales the railing as if it’s muscle memory for him. Like he’s been practicing… Like he’s done it more than a few times.
He knows exactly where to step, balancing both feet on the wrought iron support railing as he catapults himself upward. His left hand clutches the bouquet of roses while he reaches for the edge of Eris’s balcony with his right hand.
And when he grips the edge, he takes his time, gently pushing the flowers through the spaces between the rails with more care than a stalker of this caliber should have. Once his grasp is free, he hoists himself up and over, invading Eris’s privacy.
“I’m going to kill him,” I hiss.
“No,” Silas orders. “Not yet.”
“He’s at her fucking window, Silas. He’s staring inside—”
“Is she there? At the window?”
I don’t answer. Not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t.
I can’t see her from this angle. But I see Daniel and witness his posture shifts. He tilts his head, his phone screen glowing briefly, letting me catch a quick peek at the twisted smile he’s wearing.
“Do you see Eris?” Silas’s voice is a cold rumble in my earbud. “Can you see her moving from outside?”
“She’s moving around her apartment right now?” I ask, grinding the words out between clenched teeth. “I don’t see any movement from where I’m at.”
Silas mutters something low and vile. “Is he leaving?”
“Yeah,” I reply, stepping further into the shadows as Daniel crosses over the railing of the balcony and bends at the knees as if to jump. “He’s coming down fast.”
Daniel drops to the ground, landing in a crouch, and jogs back to his car. His driver’s side door opens and closes with no sound. The only thing I hear is the low purr of the engine as he cranks the sedan.
I see the glow of his phone lighting his face once more, and something clicks in my mind.
He took pictures while he was on her balcony. Of what, I don’t know…
But the knowledge has something hot and angry splitting open inside me.
“I’m going,” I say, already moving.
“Kieran. No. Don’t—” Silas’s voice fades away as I snatch the device from my ear and drop it into my pocket.
I cross the street with purpose. I’m not loud or frantic. My strides just bring with them… inevitability.
I want him to see me.
I want him to understand exactly how close his life is to ending.
Daniel looks up as I step into the street.
His eyes meet mine through the windshield, and he freezes, a look of shock on his face for a moment so short, I almost feel like I imagined it.
And then the car shrieks as he peels off, tires screaming around the corner, lost to the chaotic nightlife of Crimson Bay.
The city never sleeps or quiets, absorbing the sound of the fleeing dead man.
I don’t chase him.
Not tonight.
I’m on foot… I won’t catch him speeding through the downtown streets. And if I did, I’m just as likely to be mowed down by him.
But next time?
Next time, I’ll be more prepared.
And he won’t simply walk away.