Episode 5. Let Them Watch
852 Words
Three days after I signed Ethan's contract, I moved out of Daven's apartment.
Chloe helped me pack like she said she would. We did it fast. Didn't talk much. I packed two bags of clothes, a box of books and a few things from the kitchen that were mine before he moved in. I left the rest. I didn't want anything that he had touched.
My Aunt Rita's spare room became mine. It was small. The bed was too soft, and the walls were thin. It was all mine.
Ethan's team has been in touch with me ever since. Claire sent me instructions, schedules and things I needed to know before my official appearance with Ethan. I read everything carefully. Said very little. I was good at being quiet and doing exactly what I was told. I have been doing it my whole life.
On Thursday morning Claire called.
"There is dinner tonight. Mr Voss needs you to be there by seven. A car will come at six thirty."
"Tonight?" I said. "That is. I don't have anything to wear to a dinner like that."
There was a pause.
"Check your door," Claire said. And hung up.
I opened the door of Aunt Rita's flat.
There was a garment bag hanging on the handle. Besides, it is a small box. I unzipped the bag slowly. A dress. Dark green is simply perfectly fitted. I didn't want to think about how someone had gotten my measurements.
Aunt Rita appeared behind me.
"Who sent that?" she asked.
"Someone who likes to be prepared," I said.
She gave me a look and went back to her tea smiling.
The car came at six thirty exactly. The driver didn't speak. I sat at the back, in the dress with my hands folded in my lap and told myself I was fine.
The dinner was at a hotel in the city center. The kind of place where everything was too quiet and too expensive and everyone in the room knew who everyone else was. The driver opened my door. I stepped out.
Ethan was already outside waiting.
He looked at me once quickly, like he was checking that everything was in order. Then he held out his arm.
"Stay close," he said quietly. "Smile when people look. You don't have to say much."
"I know how to be invisible," I said.
Something moved across his face. He looked at me for a second longer than necessary.
"That is not what I need tonight," he said.
We walked in together.
The room was full. Voices, movement, the clink of glasses. People noticed Ethan anyway. They always did. And then their eyes moved to me. I kept my shoulders back. My face was calm, and I stayed at his side and I didn't look at the floor once.
It was the thing I had done since walking back into that wedding venue.
We were forty minutes in when I felt it. That feeling on the back of your neck when someone is staring at you.
I turned slowly.
There he was.
Daven. Standing near the entrance with a drink in his hand completely still staring at me.
Beside him was Elena.
Her eyes found me at that moment. Unlike Daven, whose face had gone blank, Elenas face changed. Her jaw tightened. Her smile disappeared. She looked at the dress at Ethan beside me at the way Ethan's hand had moved to the small of my back without either of us noticing.
I turned back to the conversation in front of me.
My heart was going fast. I kept my face still.
"You know someone," Ethan said quietly beside me. Not a question.
Yes, I answered.
"My ex-fiancé," I said. My former best friend.
A pause.
"Together?"
"Together."
Another pause. Then Ethan did something I didn't expect. He turned slightly toward me. Said quietly:
"Then let them watch."
I didn't look back at Daven for the rest of the evening.
I felt his eyes on me the entire time.
When the dinner ended, and we stepped back outside, Ethan walked me to the car. He opened the door himself. Just before I got in he stopped.
"You did well tonight," he said.
I looked at him.
"You sound surprised."
"I am," he said simply. Walked away.
I got into the car.
My phone buzzed before we had even left the car park.
Daven.
"We need to talk. Tonight. It is Sofia. Please."
I read the message.
Then another one came through. This time from a number I didn't recognize. Different from the number that had been contacting me before. A new one.
"Do not meet Daven alone. He knows you have been talking to Voss. Sofia. He is not the one you should be afraid of right now."
I stared at the screen.
Two messages. Two different people. Both, about Daven.
A warning that the person I should actually be afraid of was still out there.
The car pulled out into the street.
I looked out the window at the city moving.
Someone was watching everything.
They were getting closer.
- Writer
