The Men who watch
1024 Words
He hadn’t stopped staring. Not with lust. Not with annoyance.
With interest, the dangerous kind. He wondered how a girl could be so close to death yet she could still talk back.
Ava hated how he stared at her, she wanted to go home but she knew she had to calm down because of her mother.
“Thanks,” she muttered finally, rubbing her arms as the adrenaline faded. “For not killing me with your car.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“It’s the least I could do,” he said lightly.
“Since you threw yourself in front of it.”
“I didn’t throw myself—”
She stopped, realizing arguing would only give him more satisfaction.
He stepped closer. “Let me drive you home.”
“So you can Kidnap me? No.”
“That wasn’t a question,” Adrian said calmly.
Ava’s head snapped up.
“Excuse me?”
He studied her with unsettling patience, as if he wasn’t used to women refusing anything he offered.
“You’re shaking. Your eyes are swollen. And you’re clearly not in the state of mind to walk alone and it’s not safe at night.”
“That’s none of your business.”
Her voice was steady now.
Adrian tilted his head, intrigued.
“How can you be so stubborn.”
“How can you be so nosy.” she replied
He chuckled
She rolled her eyes and turned away.
But before she took more than three steps, he spoke again, quietly, but with a weight that froze the air.
“Ava.”
Her entire body went still.
She had not told him her name.
Slowly, she turned back toward him, heart thudding beneath her ribs.
“How,” she whispered, “do you know my name?”
Adrian expression was blank.
He simply slid his hands into his pockets and watched her like she was a puzzle he’d already solved.
“You dropped your student ID,” he said, holding up the small card she hadn’t even realized was missing.
Ava snatched it back. “You shouldn’t take what’s not yours.”
He let her.
“Well you should be more careful,” he murmured.
“Thanks,” she rolled her eyes . “Now goodbye.”
She marched off, refusing to let him see the panic his words had sparked… until a black SUV pulled up at the corner.
Her breath caught.
The Capone insignia gleamed faintly on the windshield.
Her stomach twisted. Dario’s men.
Not tonight.
Not again.
Not when she had nothing to show for her efforts.
Why is he here, it isn’t 48 hours yet.
And they weren’t even hiding, the tinted window rolled down just enough for her to see a familiar pair of cold, watchful eyes.
Dario’s right-hand man.
Enzo.
He mouthed something:
“Tick-tock.”
Ava stumbled backward.
Adrian noticed instantly.
His head snapped toward the SUV. His body stiffened. His eyes became steel.
“Do you know them?” he asked, voice strangely quiet.
“No,” she lied instantly.
“Just…just a car.” she stuttered
“That’s not just a car.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened.
“That’s Capone territory.”
Her blood ran cold.
She said nothing.
Adrian moved closer, lowering his voice.
“Why is the Capone mafia following you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, leave me alone.”
Her words were too quick. Too thin.
Adrian caught the panic she tried to hide.
And for the first time, he looked truly dangerous.
“You should get in the car,” he said.
“Now.”
“No,” she repeated, backing away.
But she wasn’t watching where she stepped, her heel caught the edge of a broken sidewalk, and she stumbled.
Adrian reached out instinctively, gripping her arm to steady her.
His touch was warm. Steady.
Unlike Dario’s cold, claiming grip hours earlier.
For a second, just a second, she leaned into him.
Then she pulled away fast.
“I don’t need saving,” she snapped.
Adrian watched her with an unreadable expression.
“Everyone needs saving at some point.”
“I said I’m fine, leave me alone!”
The SUV engine growled softly across the street.
Waiting. Watching.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You’re being followed,” he said.
“Maybe you don’t see it yet. But I do. And whether you want it or not, you need protection.”
Ava lifted her chin.
“I don’t take protection from strangers.”
Adrian stepped closer, lowering his voice to a velvet threat.
“That doesn’t matter now.” “Let me drive you. Let me help you. Let me figure out why Dario has eyes on you.”
Her breath caught.
She hadn’t said Dario’s name.
“How do you—”
“Because I know him,” Adrian said simply.
“And he only sends cars like that when he’s claimed something.”
Ava felt her stomach drop.
She stepped backward until her back hit the cold brick wall of the loan building.
“He hasn’t claimed me,” she said through clenched teeth.
“No one claims me.”
Adrian exhaled slowly, studying her like a flame that might burn him if he got too close.
“Tell me what he wants,” he said softly.
“Nothing.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened.
“You’re lying.”
“It’s none of your business, Goodnight Adrian.”
She turned sharply and walked away.
Not towards home.
Not towards the bus stop.
Just away.
But Adrian didn’t follow.
He stood there watching her until the black SUV trailed behind her like a shadow.
His expression shifted from curiosity…
to anger…
to something colder.
He pulled out his phone.
“Get me files on Ava Brett,” he said into the receiver.
“Now. Everything.”
He hung up without waiting for a response.
Then, as the SUV began to creep after her, Adrian’s jaw tightened and he slid into his car.
“Don’t touch her,” he muttered.
“Not tonight.”
His engine roared to life.
And the silent war officially began.
- Writer
