Mine To WatchUpdated at Aug 19, 2026, 13:28
Nora Ashby built her whole career on being looked at. Half a million followers watch her mornings, her outfits, her coffee order, and she used to think that was the only kind of attention that mattered. Then the messages start showing up that don't read like fans, packages arrive at her door with no return address, and she starts feeling eyes on her in places no stranger should know to find her.
She breaks the lease on her apartment and moves across the city to start over somewhere nobody knows her new address, not even her agent.
The building is quiet, the rent is somehow exactly what she can afford, and the man in the apartment next door introduces himself the same week she moves in with a bag of her favorite coffee like he already knew before she told him.
Julian Cade is careful and calm in a way that makes her feel safe for the first time in months. He fixes her leaking sink without being asked.
He walks her home from the train when she works late. He never pushes, never asks for more than she offers, and somewhere in the middle of learning to trust him, Nora starts falling for the first man who's ever made her feel unwatched.
Except Julian isn't just her neighbor. He's the reason she moved in the first place, and the reason this building, this floor, this exact apartment, was empty and available the week she needed it most. He's been watching her since the night she pulled him half-conscious out of a car wreck she doesn't even remember, and he's spent every day since deciding she belongs to him.