falling for him silently

The Unseen Thread

**Chapter Three:**

**Travis**

I wasn’t supposed to care.

This was business. A transaction. Nothing more.

But as I stood by the glass window of my penthouse office, overlooking the city I’d spent a decade trying to conquer, my thoughts kept circling back to the girl in the silk dress.

Alicia.

She hadn’t said a word to me. Not a single one.

But her eyes spoke volumes.

There was a fragility there, yes. But also something… unyielding. Like wild wind behind glass. She looked like someone who had been silenced for too long—and didn’t know how to scream anymore.

She ran.

And I let her.

That wasn’t like me. I don’t let people walk away. I don’t chase. I don’t give without return.

But I gave her that room. Gave her my name. Gave her space.

And now I couldn’t stop wondering where she was inside it. Whether she’d eaten. Whether she’d cried.

What kind of man thinks like that after one glance?

---

“Boss?”

Mika’s voice pulled me back. He stood just inside the open doorway, coat dusted with city rain.

“She’s there,” he said. “Suite 47. Took the tea. Didn’t say much.”

I nodded once.

“Looks like she hasn’t slept in weeks,” he added quietly. “And she was hiding a limp.”

I turned to face him fully. “She’s hurt?”

“Not visibly. Just… strained. Like her whole body’s on alert. She didn’t flinch when I spoke, but she didn’t trust me either. She was ready to run again, even with bare feet.”

That sounded about right.

“Any signs of a tail?” I asked.

“No one followed. I made sure.”

“Good.”

Mika lingered for a second. “You want me to check in again tonight?”

“No,” I said. “Let her be. If she wants something, she’ll find a way to ask.”

“Understood.”

He left, closing the door softly behind him.

I sat at my desk, but the paperwork blurred. Stocks, deals, investments—they all seemed meaningless in comparison to that one wild look in her eyes as she fled.

Who the hell are you, Alicia?

And why can’t I stop thinking about you?

---

The next morning, I told myself I wouldn’t check the security footage. I told myself I had better things to do.

I lied.

At 6:17 a.m., I opened the secure channel.

Suite 47.

She was still there.

She hadn’t left the room. Hadn’t touched the intercom. Hadn’t taken a single item she hadn’t been given.

She’d made tea. Sat by the window. Then curled under the throw blanket on the couch like a kitten in hiding.

Even in sleep, she looked ready to flee.

---

Around noon, I got a call from Elara—the woman who ran the Foundation’s front end.

“She was registered under a fake name,” she said. “Typical. But we got some background. Alicia Rae, age twenty-three. Orphan since birth. Moved between group homes until sixteen, then lived off scholarship programs. She has no criminal record. No family ties. No known partner.”

“And the healing?”

“That’s the thing,” Elara said. “There are whispers. Quiet ones. People talk about her like she’s a miracle and a curse all in one. She doesn’t advertise it. But those who’ve been touched by her swear she can fix things others can’t.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“And she’s not for sale?”

“She never was.”

That explained everything and nothing.

Why would a girl like her end up in a place like that?

Why now?

And why was I the one who saw her first?

---

That evening, I found myself in the hallway outside her suite.

I didn’t knock.

Just stood there, hands in my pockets, listening.

No sound.

Then I turned and walked away.

I didn’t know what I’d say even if I did see her.

But something in me had changed. Not because I wanted her.

Because I needed to understand her.

---

Later that night, I called Elara again.

“She’s not going back into circulation,” I said.

There was a pause. “You sure? That’ll draw questions.”

“She’s not property. I’m making it clear.”

“Understood.”

I hung up.

Then I stared at the ceiling above my bed, where moonlight carved pale lines through the darkness.

I’d seen hundreds of women in my life. Beautiful, smart, clever, dangerous.

But none of them had ever run from me.

And none of them had ever made me feel like I wanted to follow.

Alicia did.

She didn’t need me.

She didn’t want anything from me.

And that was exactly why I couldn’t let her go.

Not yet.

Not when the thread had already tied itself between us.

An invisible, unseen pull.

One I wasn’t ready to cut.

---

**END OF CHAPTER THREE**