CHAPTER 4
998 Words
Emma POV
The message on my phone kept blinking.
You think you’re safe. You’re not.
I stared at it for a long time, hoping it would disappear. Maybe it was a prank. Maybe it was a wrong number. Maybe it was nothing.
But deep inside me, in the place where my fears like to hide, I knew it wasn’t nothing.
I sat on my bed, the room quiet except for the soft hum of the fan. My apartment was small just one room, with a tiny kitchen in the corner and a bathroom so small I could barely turn around in it. The walls were thin. I could hear my upstairs neighbor watching some kind of cooking show.
But that message made it feel like I was alone in the world.
Completely alone.
I turned off my phone, pulled the covers up to my chin, and tried to sleep.
I didn’t.
The next morning, my eyes felt heavy like little bags of sand were stuck under them. But I got up anyway. I washed my face, tied my hair into a tight ponytail, and put on my favorite blouse the soft white one with the little gold buttons.
Maybe it would help me feel strong.
The city outside was already buzzing when I left the apartment. Cars honked, people rushed past me, and the smell of coffee floated through the air from the shop on the corner.
But none of it made me feel normal.
I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder.
At the subway station, I kept my phone in my hand, checking again and again. Nothing new. The creepy message was still there, but no one followed it up. No call. No name. Nothing.
It felt even worse that way.
When I got to the office, I tried to act like everything was fine.
Travis had an early meeting with a legal team, and I was supposed to bring the files. I walked into his office quietly and placed them on his desk.
“Morning,” I said.
He didn’t look up right away, but then he nodded. “Morning, Emma.”
That was new. He never used to say my name.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Yes. One sugar.”
I smiled faintly and turned to go. Just before I stepped out, I heard him say something behind me.
“You did well yesterday.”
I stopped.
“What?”
His voice was quiet but clear. “You spoke well. In the meeting.”
“Oh,” I said, a little stunned. “Thank you.”
That one word from him thank you felt like a full sentence. Maybe even a gift.
Vanessa was already at her desk when I returned. She looked up from her screen and gave me a fake little smile. “Well, well. The golden girl is glowing this morning.”
“I’m just doing my job,” I said.
She leaned forward. “Sure you are. But don’t let it get to your head, sweetheart. People don’t last long around here.”
I felt her words wrap around my heart like cold fingers.
She knew something.
Or maybe she was just trying to scare me.
I turned away, but my stomach felt heavy. I still had the message on my phone, and now her words were sticking to me too.
At lunchtime, I sat in the break room, eating a plain sandwich and staring at the wall. That’s when I saw him.
A man.
Not someone I knew. He was standing just outside the glass doors that led to the parking garage. He wasn’t moving. He was just… staring.
At me.
I blinked.
He didn’t.
He wore a gray jacket and a hat pulled low over his eyes. For a second, I thought I was imagining it.
But when I stood up, the man turned and walked away.
Fast.
I ran to the window and looked down into the parking lot, but he was gone.
My heart pounded. My hands were cold.
Was that the person who sent the message?
Was someone following me?
I wanted to go straight to Travis and tell him everything. I wanted to show him the text and tell him about the man and how scared I was.
But I stopped myself.
He’d think I was crazy. Or worse, weak.
So I didn’t say a word.
That afternoon, I worked quietly. I organized files, double-checked the schedule, and made sure Travis had everything he needed for his meetings. He barely looked at me again after that morning. But once, as I handed him a folder, our fingers brushed.
He looked up then, straight into my eyes.
His were dark, but not cold like before.
He looked like he was searching for something in me.
“Everything alright?” he asked, voice low.
I wanted to say no. I wanted to say I wasn’t alright at all.
But I nodded. “I’m fine.”
He hesitated for half a second, like he didn’t believe me, but then he nodded too. “Alright. Let me know if that changes.”
I walked out of his office feeling like I was balancing on a very thin rope, one small step away from falling.
Later that day, while organizing documents at the front desk, I found something strange.
A folder I hadn’t seen before. It didn’t belong to any of the regular departments. It was tucked between marketing reports.
I pulled it out carefully.
There was no label.
Just a single sticky note on the front.
Don’t trust anyone.
My hands trembled.
Inside the folder was a photo.
A photo of me walking into Winthrop Enterprises.
It had been taken from across the street. Without me knowing.
There was another note, scribbled in the corner.
He’s not who he says he is.
I looked around the office, heart racing.
Everyone looked normal.
But someone here was watching me.
Someone here had been following me.
Someone here… was lying.
- Writer
