The air inside the car felt suffocating. The weight of the message Richard had sent hung between Clara and me like an unspoken threat, its implications settling into my bones. I kept staring at my phone, as if the words would change if I looked at them long enough.
“You can run, but you can’t hide.”
I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around the device. Clara’s grip on the steering wheel mirrored my tension. She hadn’t said much since we left the café, but her whole body radiated alertness, like she was preparing for a battle.
“We’ll figure this out,” she finally said, her voice steady.
I glanced at her. “What if he’s already watching us?”
Clara’s jaw clenched. “Then we make sure he never gets the chance to come near you again.”
She made it sound simple. But we both knew it wasn’t.
By the time we pulled into the parking garage of the apartment, my stomach was twisting in knots. My heart pounded harder as I scanned the surroundings, suddenly hyperaware of every shadow. Every movement.
Inside, Marcelo and Evelyn were already waiting, their expressions grim. Leo, still weak but alert, sat on the couch, watching us carefully.
Evelyn noticed my tense expression immediately. “What happened?”
Clara stepped forward, handing my phone to her. “Richard sent a message.”
Evelyn’s face darkened as she read it.
Marcelo took a step closer. “Is that all he said?”
I nodded. “Yeah. But it’s enough.”
Evelyn exhaled sharply, already opening her laptop. “I’ll track where it came from. He’s getting sloppy if he’s leaving traces.”
Leo groaned, rubbing his temples. “Or he’s confident enough that he doesn’t care.”
Marcelo paced the room, deep in thought. “If he wanted to strike fear into you, he succeeded. But Richard doesn’t send threats for no reason. He’s moving.”
Clara’s voice was cold. “Then we stop waiting. We go after him first.”
I turned to her, my breath catching. “What?”
She met my gaze, unwavering. “We set a trap.”
Evelyn looked up from her screen, skeptical. “That’s a huge risk.”
Marcelo crossed his arms. “She’s right, though. If we wait too long, he’ll corner us.”
Leo scoffed. “And what’s the plan? Throw a dinner party and hope he shows up?”
Clara ignored him, eyes locked onto mine. “We need to get ahead of him, Bela.”
I swallowed. “And how do we do that?”
Her answer was immediate. “We give him exactly what he wants.”
Silence filled the room.
Marcelo was the first to break it. “You mean you.”
Clara nodded. “I’m his loose end. The only thing he doesn’t control anymore.”
Evelyn looked at me. “Are you okay with this?”
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to scream that this was reckless, that Clara was walking into something we couldn’t predict.
But Richard had already proven that waiting wouldn’t protect us.
And I wasn’t going to lose her again.
I exhaled, slow and shaky. “What do we need to do?”
Later that night, after the plan was set, I found myself on the balcony, staring at the city lights.
Everything felt so normal out there. People laughing in the streets below, neon lights flickering, life continuing as if nothing was wrong.
But inside me, everything was chaos.
I didn’t hear Clara approach, but I felt her presence.
She leaned against the railing beside me, arms crossed. “You’re thinking too loud.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Can you blame me?”
She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she reached out, her fingers brushing lightly against my hand.
I could have pulled away.
But I didn’t.
“I know you’re scared,” she said quietly.
I turned to her. “Aren’t you?”
Clara exhaled, and for a second, I saw the crack in her armor. “More than I want to admit.”
I searched her face. “Then why do this?”
“Because if I don’t, he’ll never stop coming after us.” Her voice was firm, but there was something softer beneath it. “And because I don’t want to keep running from this. From us.”
My breath hitched. “Clara…”
She stepped closer, her fingers hesitantly wrapping around mine. “Do you still love me?”
The question shattered every wall I had built.
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I kissed her.
Unlike before, this wasn’t desperate.
It wasn’t born out of anger or confusion.
It was slow. Careful. A quiet admission of everything I hadn’t been able to say.
Clara melted into me, her hands gripping my waist, holding me like she was afraid I’d slip away.
When we finally pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine, her breathing uneven.
“You still love me,” she whispered, more of a statement than a question.
I closed my eyes. “I don’t know how to stop.”
She smiled faintly, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. “Then don’t.”
For the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to believe—just for a moment—that maybe, just maybe, we still had a chance.
An hour later, Evelyn called us into the living room, her expression serious.
“I found something,” she announced, turning her laptop toward us.
On the screen was a map, blinking red over a location across town.
“This is where Richard has been moving,” she explained. “An abandoned warehouse. We intercepted a few encrypted messages. He’s planning something big.”
Marcelo leaned in. “Then we hit first.”
Leo groaned. “You people are insane.”
Clara didn’t hesitate. “We do it tonight.”
I swallowed, trying to push down the anxiety clawing at my chest. “Are we ready for this?”
Evelyn’s voice was grim. “We have to be.”
Marcelo cracked his knuckles. “Time to end this.”
I took a deep breath, glancing at Clara one last time.
No matter what happened next, we were in this together.
And we weren’t backing down.