Chapter 177 Not Alone

Chapter 177 Not Alone
Cade was already moving before Dante finished his sentence, reaching for his jacket. "Where are you going?" Dante asked.

"To get Lyra. She's still at the boutique meeting the landlord."

"She's not in danger this second," Renzo said. "He's watching, not acting. If you show up looking rattled, you tip our hand that we noticed him."

Cade paused, hand still on his jacket. "So what, I just let her walk around with someone photographing her comings and goings?"

"No," Dante said. "You make sure she's never walking around alone again. Starting today."



Lyra found out over dinner, and her reaction wasn't what Cade expected.

"So there's a man in a sedan," she said, setting her fork down slowly. "Taking notes on when I visit an empty building."

"Pretty much," Cade said, watching her carefully.

"That's honestly kind of insulting," Lyra said. "I haven't even signed the lease yet. He's stalking a building I don't even own."

Cade blinked. "That's your takeaway?"

"One of them." She picked her fork back up. "The other is that I'm apparently important enough now that Garza's assigning surveillance to my hobby real estate."

"It's not a hobby," Cade said. "It's the boutique."

"I know. I'm trying to find the humor in this before I let myself actually feel scared about it." She managed a small, tired smile. "Give me a minute."

Cade reached across the table and took her hand. "You don't have to find the humor."

"I do, actually," Lyra said. "Or I'll spend every waking minute checking parked cars for dents, and that's not a life I want to live."

~~

Renzo showed up at their apartment the next morning with a duffel bag and an expression that suggested he'd already decided something without asking permission first.

"What is that," Cade asked, opening the door.

"Surveillance equipment. Small cameras, motion sensors. I'm setting them up around the boutique location today." Renzo set the bag down. "Dante approved it an hour ago."

"You're doing this yourself? With the shoulder?"

"The shoulder's fine for holding a camera steady. I checked with the doctor."

"You checked, or you decided the doctor would say yes if you asked nicely enough."

Renzo didn't answer that directly, which Cade took as confirmation.

Lyra came out from the bedroom, already dressed, coffee in hand. "Are we doing surveillance on our own surveillance now?"

"Feels that way, doesn't it," Renzo said. "Welcome to the club. Literally."

They arrived at the boutique location together, Cade parking a block away out of habit now, scanning the street before letting either of them get out.

The dark sedan wasn't there this morning, which somehow made things feel more unsettling rather than less.

"He knows we noticed," Renzo said, studying the empty parking spot. "Or he's just not on shift today. Hard to say."

"Comforting," Lyra said dryly.

They walked the perimeter of the building together, Renzo pointing out good camera placements while Lyra studied the space with the same critical eye she'd been using for weeks, imagining shelves and lighting and a fitting room curtain despite everything else happening around her.

"The corner window would be good for displays," she said, mostly to herself.

"Focus," Cade said, though he was smiling slightly despite himself.

"I am focused. I'm focused on multiple things at once. It's called being a person with more than one priority."

Renzo laughed, setting up the first camera near the front entrance. "She's got you there."

"Don't encourage her."

"I don't need encouraging," Lyra said. "I'm already fully encouraged."

They spent the better part of the morning setting up the small security system, Renzo directing most of it despite his shoulder, occasionally wincing when he reached too far and trying to hide it, which fooled absolutely nobody.

"You're wincing," Lyra said, catching him mid-reach.

"I'm concentrating."

"That's not what concentrating looks like."

"It is on me."

"Renzo."

"Fine, it twinges a little," he admitted, lowering his arm. "Doesn't mean I can't do this."

"Nobody said you couldn't," Lyra said. "I'm just saying let Cade reach the high one."

Cade, already moving toward the camera in question, glanced back. "Some day you two are going to agree on something without me having to referee."

"We agree on plenty," Renzo said.

"Name one thing."

"We both think you worry too much," Lyra offered.

"That's not a fair example, you're biased."

"I'm extremely biased," Lyra agreed cheerfully. "Doesn't make it wrong."

Renzo laughed again, the sound easy despite the tension still sitting underneath the whole morning. "She's got you there too."

"I'm surrounded," Cade muttered, though he didn't sound remotely upset about it, finishing the camera placement with practiced efficiency.



By early afternoon, four small cameras sat discreetly positioned around the building, feeding into an app on Renzo's phone that let them check the street at any time without physically being present.

"This should catch him if he comes back," Renzo said, testing the feed one more time. "License plate, face if he gets out of the car, everything we'd need."

"And if he doesn't come back," Lyra asked.

"Then we've got eyes on an empty building for nothing, and I've spent a morning with a sore shoulder for no reason," Renzo said. "I'll take that trade happily."

They packed up as the afternoon stretched on, the tension of the morning settling into something more manageable now that there was actually a plan in place instead of just worry.

"Thank you," Lyra told Renzo as they loaded the last of the equipment into the truck. "For doing this yourself. You didn't have to."

"Wasn't going to let Cade do it alone, and definitely wasn't going to let you two walk around here without eyes on the place," Renzo said. "Besides, beats another day of licensing paperwork."

"I thought you liked the paperwork now."

"I tolerate the paperwork," Renzo corrected. "Liking is a strong word."

"You highlighted an entire folder voluntarily."

"That doesn't mean I liked it."

"Sure," Lyra said, entirely unconvinced, and Renzo shot her a look that had no real irritation behind it at all.



That evening, back at the apartment, Cade checked the camera feed on his own phone for the fourth time in an hour, Lyra watching him from the couch with a mix of sympathy and mild exasperation.

"Nothing yet," he reported.

"You've checked four times in an hour."

"I want to know the second something shows up."

"I know." She patted the couch beside her. "Come sit. Renzo set an alert, remember? It'll notify you the instant anything moves."

Cade sat, though his phone stayed close on the armrest, screen up, ready. "I don't like that he's watching you specifically."

"I don't love it either," Lyra admitted. "But we've got cameras now. And Renzo, apparently unable to sit still even when he's supposed to be resting."

"That does sound like him."

"It's endearing, in its own exhausting way." Lyra leaned into Cade's side. "We're not facing this alone, that matters."

Cade wrapped an arm around her, some of the day's tension finally easing. "No," he agreed. "We're not."