Page 13 of Black Heart

“Aagh!” I fist my hands in frustration, storming around in a useless circle.

Then my chin snaps up. I squint at the cold, black lens through long tendrils of tangled hair. “Dawson, is that you? Is this your idea of intimidation? Are you getting your kicks from watching me now?”

“Comparing me to that handsy bastard? Layla, I’ve killed men for less.”

I suck in a breath so suddenly, I almost choke on it.

A voice. An actual response.

It’s distorted, altered to be unrecognizable and coming across as cryptic, unnerving, and definitelynotDawson.

Mystery Man.The name comes unbidden into my mind, the sound of Dawson choking, the easy gait as he left our offices without a care in the world despite leveling a gun at my cubicle’s lamp and death threats at my supervisor.

“How do you know my name?” I ask, backing up a step. “What do you want from me?”

“What do I want? To keep you breathing. As for your name, I know everything about you, Layla Verona. Everything.”

I scoff, annoyed when my voice shakes, and my heart reaches for my throat. “So you’re a stalker with a tech fetish.”

With a surge of annoyance, I snatch up the baseball bat and hurl it again, this time with a lot more accuracy. It clangs off the circular camera, cracking its lens, but not much else.

I huff in disappointment.

The voice chuckles, a sound that sends tremors through my chest.

“Calm down, Wraithling. Wouldn’t want you hurting yourself.”

“Wraithling?” I echo, my voice laced with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity. “That’s a new one. Who are you?”

The voice seems to sigh, a static-filled sound that fills the room.“You’re in danger, Layla.There are worse things than cameras watching over you. Trust me.”

A shudder ripples through me at the repeated mention of my name, stated so easily, it’s almost personal.

“Isn’t it obvious?”The voice feels closer now, almost intimate, even though it comes from an electronic eye in the corner of the room.“You’re not just precious. You’re vital. And what’s vital to me, I protect ... or destroy. I haven’t decided which yet.”

The words send a forbidden thrill through me, mixed with a healthy dose of fear. “You sound like a predator, not a protector.”

The voice chuckles, a sound that’s terrifying and strangely compelling.“Maybe I’m a bit of both.”

I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly feeling exposed now that I’m not storming around my home with a vendetta. “If you’re really here to defend me, then show yourself. Stop hiding behind your gadgets.”

There’s a pause, and I can almost picture him pondering the idea.

“Patience, Wraithling. When I finally reveal myself to you, it won’t be through a camera. It’ll be with my hands around your throat, deciding whether to end you or claim you. Until then, sweet dreams.”

The speaker falls silent, and I’m left standing in the wreckage of my once peaceful home.

6

KADEN

I’m slowly, delightfully driving Layla mad.

She’s been working tirelessly to outsmart her mysterious watcher.

First, Layla covers all the cameras—that she can find. I’m nothing if not meticulous and choosy on where to install my backup surveillance. Using the hidden lenses she’ll never find around her modest home, I watch her carefully assemble a homemade signal jammer, hoping to disrupt my wireless communications.

She fails, of course, but she uses up a good amount of my time in stopping her.

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