Page 104 of Velvet Corruption

Nothing.

And then—yes. Footsteps. Slow, heavy. Deliberate.

Not outside.

Inside.

Every instinct screamed at me to move, but my body refused. For a breath, two, I froze, the sharp taste of metal blooming in my mouth. Rosie wasn’t here. Thank God, Rosie wasn’t here. But I was. Alone. And someone else was too.

The calm I’d wrapped around myself all night shattered, replaced by something colder, harder. Alek had been right. I wasn’t safe. Not now. Not ever. Not in this city.

I put the glass down with shaking fingers, silent as I could, and stood. I didn’t reach for my phone. There wouldn’t be time. I had to get to the kitchen.

I had to get to the gun.

The footsteps came again, closer this time. Just past the hallway. I moved fast and quiet, staying in the shadows, stepping only where I knew the floor wouldn’t creak. My eyes adjusted as I went. The kitchen was ten steps away. Maybe less.

I kept my breathing shallow, my body tight, focused. The fear was real, but I didn’t let it control me.

He was in my house.

He was here for me.

And I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I had to move.

I had to get the gun.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Ruby

The footsteps came fast. I had to go up the stairs.

I stayed down, tried to be sneaky. As my heart pounded in the darkness, a fleeting thought of Rosie’s eyes urged me to keep my guard up as I prepared to move deeper into the unknown.

I was glad she wasn’t here.

Whatever this was…it was better I was here all by myself.

I wasn’t used to moving in shadows. I stumbled once, but not loud enough to give myself away.

My knees buckled when my foot caught on something loose—a nail, maybe?—but I didn’t fall. I held myself steady.

Kept my body low and crept up the staircase of the brownstone, hoping the old wood didn’t betray me. There wasn’t any way out of this place except through them--at least not a place where he wouldn’t see me.

My breath sounded loud in my ears, but I didn’t stop to listen for anything else. I stayed low, moving from room to room, hugging walls, rushing up stairs. Their footsteps were heavy. Every footfall was louder than the last, echoing through the brownstone. If I’d been seen, they would have said something. They didn’t, so I kept moving.

My heart pounded, and my breath was hot in my mouth, heavy in my lungs.

How did they find me so fast? Why was no one watching the house? Alek would be pissed.

My phone was in my purse, which was in the kitchen, and it had been so fucking stupid to leave it there.

I finally managed to turn a corner to go up the stairs.

I heard him behind me. Close. I had to run. Alek had been right, why was no one protecting me? Why was no one watching my house?

I knew that I had to go get the gun. With every desperate step, the memory of Rosie’s voice echoing through the house allowed me to stave away the panic.

---