Chapter Five
1475 Words
Luna
Hold on, how could another person be fixated on me?
Luna spoke, her voice shrinking before she could stop it.
Shaking came over the photos she held, just as a rumble of thunder hit the glass at her back.
By the door, Noah stayed still, eyes on her, face showing nothing at all.
Too calm.
That terrified her.
“You are not telling the truth,” she said quietly.
“I don’t lie.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
A photograph caught Noah’s eye, lying there among others on the dresser.
“They started six weeks ago.”
Something cold moved along Luna’s back, inch by inch.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head immediately. “No, this has to be some sick joke.”
Footsteps soft on the ground, Noah moved closer to where she stood.
He moved like someone watching each step. Not a single gesture came loose or wild.
Calculated.
Predatory.
“You changed your route home three times last month,” he said quietly. “You stopped sleeping properly two weeks ago. And three nights ago, someone stood outside your apartment building for nearly four hours.”
Fear crashed through Luna like a wave. Her breath caught, heavy and sudden.
Truth held every piece together.
Every single word.
Out of nowhere, a chill crept up her back on the walk home. Something about the silence felt off, like eyes followed each step. Shadows stretched longer than usual. A breath caught in her throat, though no one was there. The streetlights flickered once, just as she turned the corner.
The footsteps behind her at night.
A shadow sat still by her building, engine off. That dark vehicle stayed put longer than it should have.
Maybe it wasn’t real, she told herself at the start.
Only then did it hit her - she never was.
“Oh my God…”
A flicker of tension crossed Noah’s face when he heard how scared she sounded.
“I assigned security after the second incident.”
“You had no right!”
“You’re alive because I did.”
Luna started to speak, but hesitation caught her breath before the words could leave. A pause hung there, sharp as a splinter under skin
Then stopped.
Still, some dark corner inside trusted his words.
Noah moved closer.
“You should’ve told someone.”
“I didn’t know it was real!”
“It’s real.”
That quiet tone of his carried a strange kind of fear. It wasn’t loud, yet it chilled more than shouting ever could.
Her back faced him now, breaths slowing bit by bit. The air between them grew still, yet charged like distant thunder before rain.
“This is insane…”
For a breath, Noah just looked at her. Then he broke the quiet.
“The man watching you is connected to one of my rivals.”
Back her head jerked, facing him again.
“What?”
“He’s been asking questions about you.”
“Why me?!”
A shadow passed across Noah’s eyes. They seemed heavier now.
“Because people are starting to notice how important you are to me.”
Quiet filled the space. Stillness took hold.
Luna held her gaze on him.
“What?”
For a moment, Noah stayed quiet. Then silence stretched longer than expected.
A reply hiding inside its own shape.
Thunder cracked outside.
Luna saw it now - everything clicked without a sound.
The gifts appearing anonymously at work.
Out of nowhere, pay jumped twice as high. A surprise move by the boss changed everything fast.
The strange way security guards treated her at Velvet Rouge.
Noah.
It had always been Noah.
“You did all that?” she asked slowly.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Now his gaze held her stare without moving.
For the first time since we met, a quiet pause settled between us
Noah looked uncertain.
Only slightly.
Still, it showed up clear enough for her to see.
“You know why.”
Her pulse stumbled.
“Noah…”
“You walk into a room and I can’t think properly afterward.”
Out of nowhere, the words slipped out. Quietly, they landed between us.
Dangerously honest.
Luna’s breath caught.
He moved near once more.
“When you laugh, I remember it for hours.”
Another step.
“When you disappear, I become angry.”
Another.
“And when other men touch you…”
His jaw tightened.
“I want to break them.”
Fear curled around the heat deep within her ribs.
This wasn’t normal.
Nothing about Noah was normal.
Here’s what scares me most.
He wasn’t pretending.
Every word was real.
“You barely know me,” Luna whispered.
Her words hung there, Noah staring as if she had just claimed the sky was green.
“I know your favorite tea.”
A soft gasp slipped out as her gaze stretched open.
“You sing when you’re nervous.”
Another step closer.
“You call your mother every night at exactly nine.”
Closer.
“And you wear red heels when you want to feel powerful.”
Blood hammered in her chest, sudden. Each beat too loud against the quiet room.
Those were facts, not guesses.
That look lingered longer than it should have. His eyes stayed fixed on her movements without pause.
Obsessively.
Her voice trembled as she said it felt like ice down his spine. The quiet truth slipped out before she could stop it.
Just then, after hours of nothing…
Noah looked hurt.
A flicker crossed her face, gone in a breath - yet she caught it. Then silence settled again.
Good.
Maybe deep down, beneath the frightening actions, some feelings remained. He wasn’t completely gone.
“You should be scared,” he said quietly. “I’ve done terrible things, Luna.”
Something about how he spoke squeezed her ribs without warning.
He never acted like he was better than anyone else.
It hit him clear, who he’d always been. That truth sat heavy, familiar in his chest.
Somehow, it was simpler to trust what he said.
After a long pause, her voice broke the silence - why choose me? That was her question.
Silence.
Forward Noah moved, fingers easing a single curl from her cheek. His hand paused mid-air before completing the small motion.
A soft touch stayed on her face for just a moment. Then it slipped away like something unsure of itself.
Gentle.
So painfully gentle.
“I can’t say,” he said, voice low.
And somehow…
It seemed closer somehow, even though he hadn’t stated it outright.
Luna was the one who broke eye contact before he did.
Big mistake.
Her mouth caught his gaze before he could look away.
The air shifted.
Dangerously.
“You need rest,” she blurted out.”.
“No.”
Her stomach flipped.
“No?”
“I’m not done looking at you.”
Faster than a blink, warmth flooded her cheeks. She felt it rise before she could think.
This guy - totally off the charts. Impossible to ignore.
“Noah - ”
“I’ve spent weeks trying to stay away from you.”
Fact was, he seemed annoyed by it.
“It didn’t work.”
Breath caught sharp in her chest. The beat inside raced without warning.
Fog pressed against the windows just as silence sank deep between them.
Out of nowhere, Noah spoke a sentence that caught her completely off guard.
“I’m going to marry you.”
Everything inside her mind just shut down.
“…What?”
Stillness stayed on Noah’s face.
“As soon as this situation is handled.”
Horrified, Luna fixed her eyes on him.
“You cannot just decide that!”
“I already did.”
“That’s insane!”
“You’ll get used to it.”
She actually laughed.
It wasn’t the humor that made it stick. Instead, something quieter held on.
Because she was genuinely losing her mind.
“You’re a psychopath.”
Noah tilted his head slightly.
“Probably.”
“And you think I’d marry you?”
Fire sat in his eyes, fixed on her. She felt it before she saw it. The air between them tightened like a wire.
“Yes.”
What unsettled her wasn’t just what he said - it was how sure he sounded. The steadiness in his words carried a weight she hadn’t expected.
Luna moved back slowly at first. Then she shifted away without rushing.
“You’re crazy.”
Noah followed slowly.
“But you’re still here.”
Her breath caught.
He got it correct, after all.
Her gut screamed get away. She stood still.
Yet somehow…
she hadn’t left.
It caught Noah's eye as well.
That caused the sharp edge in his gaze to deepen, shadows pooling like ink beneath a storm.
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