MIA
Mia couldn't stop staring at the text message.
We know where she sleeps. Next time, she won't wake up.
Her bedroom. They'd been in her bedroom. While she was out. While she was working. While she was—
"Give me the phone." Elias's voice cut through her panic.
Jade handed it over with shaking hands.
Elias studied the photos for three seconds. His face went completely blank. The kind of blank that meant he was furious.
"Damien," he said quietly. "How fast can we get to the safehouse?"
"Ten minutes if I break every traffic law."
"Break them."
The car shot forward. Mia gripped the seat as they swerved around a truck, ran a red light, took a corner so fast she felt the tires lift.
Jade made a small sound. "I'm going to be sick."
"Window," Damien said. "Aim out."
"Nobody's throwing up," Elias snapped. He was still looking at Jade's phone. Zooming in on the photos. "These were taken today. Between four and six PM based on the light angle."
"How do you know that?" Jade asked weakly.
"Because I know how to break into apartments." He handed the phone back. "Delete those messages. Now."
"Why?"
"Because they can track if you've read them. Seen them. Shared them." His eyes found Mia's. "They're watching everything."
Mia's stomach turned over. "My phone—"
"Already compromised. Don't touch it." Elias pulled out his own phone. The one he'd used earlier. "Use this. Only this. It's clean."
"For how long?"
"Twenty-four hours if we're lucky. Twelve if we're not."
The car screeched into an underground parking garage. Dark. Empty except for two other vehicles. Damien parked in the far corner, killed the lights.
"Where are we?" Jade whispered.
"Somewhere Victor doesn't know about," Elias said. "Yet."
They got out. Mia's legs felt weak. The garage smelled like concrete and oil. Footsteps echoed too loud.
Elias led them to an elevator hidden behind a maintenance door. Pressed his thumb to a scanner. The doors opened onto a small space. Plain. Gray. No buttons inside.
"This is creepy," Jade muttered.
"This is safe," Elias corrected.
The elevator moved up. Slowly. Like it was thinking about where to go.
Mia counted floors in her head. Five. Six. Seven. It stopped at ten.
The doors opened onto an apartment. Not fancy. Not cold. Just... normal. Couch. Kitchen. Windows showing the city lights. Like a regular person lived here.
"Welcome to my actual home," Elias said.
Mia stared at him. "You have a normal apartment?"
"I have five. This one's my favorite." He locked the door behind them. Three locks. One required a fingerprint. "Sit. Both of you."
Jade collapsed onto the couch. Mia stayed standing.
"I need to go back," she said.
"No."
"My apartment—they were inside—"
"Which is exactly why you're not going back." Elias moved to the kitchen. Started making coffee like they hadn't just fled a kidnapping attempt. "Your building isn't safe. Your office isn't safe. Anywhere you normally go isn't safe."
"So what am I supposed to do? Hide here forever?"
"Until Sunday."
"That's three days!"
"That's the deadline Victor gave me." Elias poured three cups. Handed one to Jade, who took it with trembling hands. "Three days to surrender or he takes you."
"Let him try," Mia said. Her voice came out harder than she expected. "I'm not hiding while you—"
"While I what?" Elias turned to face her. "Fight a war you didn't sign up for? That was always the plan, Mia. You were never supposed to be in this."
"Well I am in it!" Her voice rose. "They broke into my bedroom! They threatened Jade! They killed Cora!"
"Cora deserved—"
"I don't care what she deserved!" Mia slammed her cup down. Coffee sloshed over the rim. "You can't just kill people and call it protection! You can't watch me for five years and call it safety! You can't—"
She stopped.
Elias was holding his phone. Screen facing her. Showing a photo.
Mia stepped closer. Squinted at the image.
A crowded street. People shopping. Bright daylight. And there—in the middle of the crowd—
Her.
Mia in jeans and a blue jacket. Carrying grocery bags. Smiling at something. Six months ago maybe? Seven? She remembered that jacket. Donated it last month.
"What is this?" she asked quietly.
"Look closer." Elias zoomed in. "Behind you. Gray hoodie. Sunglasses."
Mia's breath caught.
A man. Tall. Walking three steps behind her. Phone raised like he was texting. But the angle was wrong. The phone was pointed at her back.
He was taking photos.
"I don't—" Her voice shook. "I don't remember him."
"You wouldn't." Elias swiped to another photo. Same street. Different angle. The man was closer now. Five feet behind her. Still photographing. "He's a professional. You're not supposed to notice."
"Who is he?"
"Marco Salvatici. The cleaner. The man in the gray coat." Elias swiped again. Another photo. Mia at a coffee shop. Marco visible through the window behind her. "He's been following you for eight months."
The room tilted.
Eight months.
Following her. Photographing her. Watching.
"Why?" Mia whispered.
"Because Victor told him to." Elias kept swiping. More photos. Mia at work. At the grocery store. Getting her hair cut. Walking through the park. Always with Marco somewhere in the background. Always watching. "He has hundreds of these. Your entire routine. Where you go. When you're alone. Who you talk to."
Jade made a small sound from the couch. "That's—that's insane."
"That's preparation." Elias looked at Mia. "Victor doesn't move until he knows everything about his target. He's been studying you for months. Waiting for the right moment."
"The right moment for what?"
"To take you. To use you. To make me choose between my empire and your life."
Mia's hand found the wall. She needed something solid to hold onto. "I was never safe."
"No."
"Not once in five years."
"No."
"Even before the contract. Before we were married. I was already—"
"Already in his crosshairs. Yes." Elias put his phone away. "That's why I offered the contract. Not to use you. To shield you. A dying man's wife isn't interesting. She's not leverage. She's just—"
"Nothing," Mia finished. The word tasted bitter.
"That was the idea." Elias's voice softened. "Keep you boring. Keep you invisible. Keep you alive."
"It didn't work."
"It worked for five years."
"Cora's dead!"
"Cora made herself visible!" He took a step forward. "She contacted Victor. Fed him information. Put herself in play. You stayed quiet. Stayed small. That's why you're still breathing."
Mia looked at Jade, who'd gone very pale. "We need to call the police."
"The police can't help," Elias said.
"They can arrest Victor!"
"For what? Sending text messages? Having his employee follow someone?" Elias's laugh was bitter. "Victor doesn't leave evidence, Mia. That's why he's survived this long."
"So we do nothing?"
"We wait. We prepare. And when he makes his move—" Elias's eyes went cold. "We end this. Permanently."
Jade stood up suddenly. "I need air. Or a bathroom. Or possibly both."
"Second door on the left," Elias said.
Jade stumbled away. The bathroom door closed. Lock clicked.
Mia and Elias stood in silence.
"Show me the rest," Mia said finally.
"What?"
"The photos. All of them. I want to see how long I've been a ghost."
Elias hesitated. Then he unlocked his phone again. Handed it to her. "Swipe left."
Mia did.
More photos appeared. Dozens. Hundreds. Her entire life for the past year laid out in surveillance images. Shopping. Working. Meeting Jade for coffee. Walking to her car. Standing in her apartment window.
Standing in her apartment window.
Her hand froze. "This was taken from outside my building."
"Yes."
"Through my bedroom window."
"Yes."
"You can see inside."
"Yes." Elias's voice was tight. "Victor's people rented the apartment across the street three months ago. I didn't know until last week."
Mia kept swiping. More photos. More angles. More proof that she'd been living in a fishbowl for months without knowing it.
Then she reached a video file.
She pressed play.
Footage from inside her apartment. Taken today. While she was at work. A camera hidden somewhere—she couldn't tell where. Showing her living room. Her kitchen. Her bedroom door.
Someone had walked through every room. Slowly. Like they were memorizing the layout.
The video ended in her bedroom. The camera lingered on her bed. Her closet. Her dresser.
Then the screen went black. Text appeared:
She sleeps alone. Easy target. Recommend taking her Thursday night. Less traffic. Fewer witnesses.
The phone slipped from Mia's hand.
Elias caught it before it hit the floor.
"Thursday," Mia whispered. "That's tomorrow."
"Yes."
"They're going to take me tomorrow night."
"They're going to try."
"What if you can't stop them?"
Elias looked at her for a long moment. "Then I burn this entire city down to find you."
The bathroom door opened. Jade came out, face pale but composed. "Okay. I've processed. I'm good. Totally fine. Except—" She looked at Mia. "What's wrong? You look worse than before."
Mia couldn't speak.
Elias did it for her. "Victor's people are coming for her tomorrow night. We have less than twenty-four hours to stop them."
Jade's eyes went wide. "How?"
"I'm working on it."
"Work faster!"
Elias's phone buzzed. Different phone this time. The one in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out. Read the screen. His face went completely blank.
"What?" Mia asked. "What is it?"
He turned the phone so they could see.
A photo. Recent. Very recent. Taken maybe five minutes ago.
The outside of this building. This apartment building. Where they were right now.
And standing on the street corner looking up—
Marco Salvatici in his gray coat.
He knew where they were.
Below the photo, one line of text:
Found her. Moving in now.