Ezra's POV
The doorbell sticks when I press it.
I ring it three times before I hear footsteps inside Dr. Chen's house. My hands are sweating. I wipe them on my jeans and try to breathe normally.
This is just a research assistant job. Nothing weird. Nothing dangerous.
Except my mentor died two years ago, and everyone thinks I killed her. And now another professor wants to work with me alone in his house at night.
The door opens.
A woman stands there with red eyes like she's been crying for hours. She's holding a dish towel so tight her knuckles are white.
"Hi," I say. "I'm Ezra Blackwell. I'm here to—"
She drops the towel.
Her face goes completely pale, like she's seen a ghost.
And then I really look at her. Really see her.
No.
No, no, no.
"You're Mrs. Chen?" The words come out as a whisper.
It's her. The woman from the bench. The one with the umbrella. The one who understood my sadness without asking questions. The one I've been meeting for weeks, talking to, laughing with.
The one I've been falling for.
She's Dr. Chen's wife.
"Ezra." She says my name like a prayer. Or a warning. "You need to leave. Right now."
"What? I don't understand—"
"Please." She grabs my arm, her fingers digging in hard. "Get in your car and drive away. Don't come back. Ever."
"Is someone threatening you?" I step closer. "Are you safe here?"
"Ah, there you are!" Dr. Chen's voice booms from somewhere inside the house. "Victoria, did you let our guest in?"
Victoria. Her name is Victoria.
She closes her eyes like she's in pain. When she opens them again, tears are sliding down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she mouths silently. "So sorry."
Dr. Chen appears behind her, smiling big. His hand lands on Victoria's shoulder. She flinches but covers it by pretending to cough.
"Ezra! Welcome!" Dr. Chen pulls the door wider. "Come in, come in. Don't be shy."
I look at Victoria. She's shaking her head slightly, so small that only I can see it.
But what choice do I have? If I leave now, Dr. Chen will know something's wrong. He'll ask questions. He might hurt Victoria.
I step inside.
The house smells like cleaning products and something else. Something sad. Like grief lives in the walls.
"Victoria was just making us coffee," Dr. Chen says. "Weren't you, darling?"
"Yes." Her voice is barely there. "I'll go... I'll go make it now."
She disappears into the kitchen. Dr. Chen watches her go with cold eyes.
"My wife is still adjusting," he says quietly. "Our son died two years ago. Drowned in the backyard pool. She blames herself."
My stomach drops. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"Why would you? We don't talk about it." Dr. Chen smiles again, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Come. My office is upstairs."
I follow him up the stairs. Every step feels wrong. The family photos on the walls have been turned around, facing the plaster. I can only see the backs of the frames.
Who turns their family photos backward?
Dr. Chen's office is at the end of the hall. But before we reach it, I see another door. This one has a new lock on the outside.
"What's that room?" I ask.
"My son's bedroom." Dr. Chen's voice goes flat. "I'm converting it into a private workspace. For our research."
He opens his office door. Inside, there's a desk, two chairs, and a wall of bookshelves. But what catches my attention is the filing cabinet in the corner.
It has photographs taped to it. Dozens of them.
And they're all of me.
Me at the grocery store. Me at the library. Me sitting on the bench by the fountain.
Some of these photos are from months ago. Before Dr. Chen ever offered me this job.
"You've been watching me," I say slowly.
"Observing," Dr. Chen corrects. "There's a difference. I've been observing you since Sarah Mitchell died. Fascinating case study—how you've handled the guilt, the rumors, the isolation."
My blood turns to ice. "You knew Professor Mitchell?"
"I was her mentor before she became yours." Dr. Chen sits at his desk. "Did she never mention me? I'm hurt."
Professor Mitchell never talked about her past mentors. She was always looking forward, never back.
"She filed a complaint about me," Dr. Chen continues, like he's discussing the weather. "Claimed I was psychologically abusing students. Can you imagine? Me, one of the most respected professors at this university."
"What happened to the complaint?"
"She withdrew it. After we had a long conversation in my office." Dr. Chen's smile is terrifying. "And then, well... you know what happened next."
Professor Mitchell jumped from her office window three days after meeting with Dr. Chen.
Everyone said it was suicide from stress and depression.
But what if it wasn't?
"You killed her," I whisper.
"I gave her a choice," Dr. Chen says. "She made it. Just like you'll make a choice tonight, Ezra."
"What choice?"
"You can work with me willingly, let me study you, document your psychological patterns. Or..." He pauses. "I can show everyone the real evidence from Professor Mitchell's death. The evidence that proves you were having an inappropriate relationship with her. That you pushed her when she tried to end it."
"That's not true! I never—"
"But I have proof that says you did." Dr. Chen opens a drawer and pulls out a folder. "Text messages from her phone. Your fingerprints on her office window. Security footage edited to show you alone with her right before she jumped."
"You fabricated evidence against me?"
"Insurance policy. I needed to make sure the investigation ended quickly. Blame the troubled student, everyone moves on." Dr. Chen leans forward. "I've been holding onto this for two years, Ezra. Waiting for the perfect moment to use it. That moment is now."
My legs feel weak. "What do you want from me?"
"Your cooperation. Your trust. Your complete honesty about your thoughts, feelings, traumas." His eyes gleam. "I'm writing a book about psychological manipulation. You're my newest case study."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I release the evidence. You go to prison for Professor Mitchell's murder. And Victoria..." Dr. Chen smiles. "Well, Victoria will be very sad. I've been documenting how she seeks comfort in broken people. How she's been meeting with you secretly for weeks. Very inappropriate, don't you think? A married woman and her husband's student."
He knows. He knows everything.
"You set that up," I breathe. "You sent her to that bench. You made sure we'd meet."
"I created the perfect conditions," Dr. Chen agrees. "You were both so predictable. So lonely. So desperate for connection."
Footsteps on the stairs. Victoria appears in the doorway with a coffee tray. Her hands shake so badly the cups rattle.
"Leave it and go," Dr. Chen tells her.
"No." Victoria sets down the tray and looks at me. "Ezra, he's lying about Professor Mitchell. He's lying about everything."
"Victoria," Dr. Chen's voice drops low and dangerous. "Leave. Now."
"He killed our son!" Victoria's voice cracks. "He drowned Daniel on purpose to study my grief. He's a monster, Ezra. You have to believe me."
Dr. Chen stands up. "You're hysterical. I think you need more medication."
"Don't touch me!" Victoria backs away. She looks at me with desperate eyes. "I found his research notes. He's planning to push you to suicide, just like he did to Professor Mitchell. He's going to make it look like you killed yourself from guilt. And he's going to make me watch."
My heart stops. "Is that true?"
Dr. Chen sighs. "Ezra, my wife is mentally ill. She's been having delusions since our son died. That's why she needs so much medication."
"You've been drugging me to keep me quiet!" Victoria shouts. "I stopped taking the pills three weeks ago. My mind is finally clear. And I remember things. I remember you sending me inside before Daniel drowned. I remember you being alone with him. I remember—"
Dr. Chen moves fast. He grabs Victoria's wrist and twists.
She cries out in pain.
I don't think. I just move.
I slam into Dr. Chen, knocking him away from Victoria. We crash into the bookshelf. Books rain down on us.
"Run!" I yell at Victoria. "Get out of the house!"
But Dr. Chen is stronger than he looks. He shoves me off and pulls something from his desk drawer.
A syringe.
"This was supposed to be for later," he pants, advancing toward me. "But you've forced my hand."
Victoria grabs a heavy book and swings it at Dr. Chen's head. He staggers.
"Go!" she screams at me. "Both of us! Now!"
We run for the stairs. Dr. Chen is right behind us, shouting.
"You can't escape! I have evidence against both of you! The police will believe me, not you!"
We burst out the front door. I grab Victoria's hand and pull her toward my car.
But there are people waiting.
Two men in dark suits step out of the shadows. They're not police.
"Dr. Chen hired us to make sure his research subjects don't escape," one of them says calmly.
We spin around. Dr. Chen stands in the doorway, straightening his shirt, smiling.
"Did you really think I'd let you run?" he asks. "This is still my experiment. You're still my subjects. And we're just getting started."
The two men move closer. Victoria grips my hand tighter.
"What now?" she whispers.
I look around desperately. The neighbors' houses are dark. No one to call for help.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. A text.
From my sister Emily.
But Emily was taken by Marcus's associates yesterday. She's supposed to be missing.
With shaking hands, I pull out my phone and read the message:
"Not Emily. This is Associate 3. We have your sister. If you or Victoria try to escape or call police, she dies. Dr. Chen wants you back in the house. Now. You have 30 seconds to comply."
Below the text is a photo of Emily tied to a chair, terrified, with today's newspaper in front of her.
Victoria reads the message over my shoulder. She makes a sound like a wounded animal.
"We have to go back inside," I say. My voice doesn't sound like mine. "We don't have a choice."
"There's always a choice," Victoria whispers.
She's right. But every choice leads to death.
Emily's death. Our death. Someone's death.
Dr. Chen watches us from the doorway, patient as a spider waiting for flies to fly back into the web.
"Twenty seconds," the man with the phone says.
Victoria looks at me. "Whatever happens in there, we fight. We survive. We find a way."
"Together," I agree.
We walk back toward the house. Toward Dr. Chen. Toward whatever nightmare he has planned.
But as we pass the first man, Victoria slips something small into my hand.
A key.
I glance at her. She tilts her head slightly toward the upstairs.
The locked room. Daniel's bedroom. The one Dr. Chen is converting into his "private workspace."
Victoria found something in there. Something Dr. Chen doesn't want anyone to see.
And tonight, while he's busy with his experiment, I'm going to find out what he's hiding.
Even if it kills me.