Chapter 3 #3
Nina studies the message again, her face grim. “This isn’t a wrong number. ‘I’ll never stop looking for you’ is way too specific. Someone knows you’re hiding.”
The words make my stomach drop with familiar dread.
We’ve had this conversation before, back when I first decided to leave New York.
Nina was the one who helped me research how to disappear and how to start over somewhere new without leaving obvious traces.
She insisted on coming with me, knowing I had no one else.
She didn’t either, but it was still a sacrifice for her, and I appreciated it then as much as I still do.
I don’t want Alex to disrupt both our lives again.
She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Tell me exactly what you remember about how you left things with Alex. Did he know you were planning to go?”
“No. I waited until he was traveling for work, packed everything I could fit in my car, and left.” I close my eyes, remembering those terrifying final weeks. “But he’s smart, Nina, and he has resources. If he really wanted to find me...”
“He would have done it months ago.” Her voice is firm, reassuring. “You changed your phone number, your address, and your job. You don’t have social media, and you’ve been careful about not using credit cards anywhere that could create a paper trail.”
“So, how did someone get my new number?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it really is a coincidence, or maybe someone’s fishing with random numbers hoping to get a response.” She hands my phone back to me. “Have you gotten any other weird messages? Phone calls? Anything else that felt off?”
I shake my head. “Just this one, but it scared me enough that I could barely focus on work for the rest of the day.”
“What did you tell your boss?”
“Nothing. I managed to get through the rest of my work without falling apart.” I lean back against her headboard, feeling some of the tension leave my shoulders now that I’m not carrying this alone. “Nina, what if he really found me? What if Alex is here in Connecticut?”
“Then we’ll handle business. We’ve been planning for this possibility since we moved here.” She gets up and walks to her dresser, pulling out a small notebook from the top drawer. “Remember? We have options.”
The notebook contains our contingency plans, researched and written down during late-night conversations when my paranoia was at its worst. It holds a list of different ways to disappear again if necessary, with places we could go and a sadly short list of people who might help.
“I don’t want to run again.” The admission comes out smaller than I intended.
“I like it here. I like my new job, I like our apartment, and I don’t want to put you through that again.
You gave up so much for me, and for the first time in months, I was starting to feel like maybe I could build a real life. ”
Nina sits back down beside me and puts her arm around my shoulders.
“I gave up a job as a line cook and a lousy boyfriend who wasn’t worth anything.
I like it here much better than the city, and I’ll go where you go, but you don’t have to run anywhere based on one text message. We just need to be smart about this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Save any other messages you get. Don’t respond to unknown numbers. Vary your routine when you can and pay attention to whether anyone seems to be following you or watching you.” She pauses, thinking. “Maybe we should tell someone else what’s going on. Just in case.”
“Like whom?”
“I don’t know. A neighbor? Your boss?”
The suggestion makes me laugh, though there’s no humor in it. “I’m not telling my boss I might have a stalker ex-boyfriend. I just started this job, and the last thing I need is for him to think I come with drama or decide I’m not worth the security risk.”
She frowns, temporarily in Mom-Mode, though she’s only a year older than me. It’s just her nature sometimes. “Sarah, if this escalates, you might not have a choice.”
She’s right, but the thought of explaining my past to Yarik Barinov makes my skin crawl.
He strikes me as someone who values control and predictability, and I’m neither of those things.
If he knew the truth about why I left New York, he’d probably rescind the job offer immediately.
“Let’s see if I get any more messages before we panic.
” I stand up, suddenly desperate to end this conversation.
“Maybe it really was just a wrong number.”
Nina doesn’t look convinced, but she nods anyway. “Okay, but promise me you’ll tell me if anything else happens. Anything at all.”
“I promise.”
I hug her goodnight and return to my own room, but sleep feels impossible now. I lie in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about the text message and wondering if Alex really has found me after all these months of careful hiding.
The worst part is I’d finally started to feel safe. I’d begun to believe I could have a normal life and maybe even a good one. Now that fragile sense of security feels like it’s crumbling around me.
I roll over and check my phone one more time, half-expecting to find another message waiting. The screen is dark, showing only the time and my wallpaper photo of the Long Island Sound taken from the estate grounds yesterday.
If Alex has found me, there’s nothing I can do about it tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll go to work, do my job, and try to act like everything is normal. I’ll be careful, observant, and hope Nina is right about this being a coincidence. The alternative is too frightening to consider.