Chapter 20: Someone Is Watching

The following morning began normally. Freya woke early, prepared breakfast, and checked her author dashboard while the coffee brewed. Her novel had gained another group of readers overnight, and several comments were asking when the next update would arrive. She smiled and uploaded a scheduled chapter before carrying breakfast to the table. Louis appeared a few minutes later, already dressed to leave.

"You're going out early," Freya said. Louis nodded and picked up his coffee. "I have a meeting." Freya didn't ask what kind. In her mind, he was probably meeting former contacts or searching for a new business opportunity. She had deliberately avoided questioning him about work because she knew how humiliating bankruptcy could be for someone who had once controlled an empire.

After Louis left, Freya spent three hours writing. Around eleven, she packed two sold bags and headed downstairs to ship them. The courier shop was only a few streets away, so she walked instead of calling a car. Halfway there, she noticed a gray sedan parked across the street. She wouldn't have paid attention if she hadn't seen the same car near the supermarket two days earlier.

Freya slowed slightly but didn't turn her head again. Maybe it belonged to someone who lived nearby. She continued toward the courier shop, completed both shipments, and stopped at a bakery on the way back. When she emerged, the gray sedan was parked farther down the road.

Her instincts immediately sharpened. In her previous life, Freya had lived alone for years and had developed a healthy suspicion of anything unusual. She crossed the street unexpectedly, entered a convenience store, and watched through the reflective glass. The car remained where it was.

A few minutes later, she left through another exit and took a longer route home. By the time she reached the apartment complex, the sedan was nowhere in sight. Freya told herself she might be overthinking things, but she memorized the first few characters of the license plate anyway.

Upstairs, she sent Louis a message: "Random question. Do you owe dangerous people money?" His reply came almost instantly. "No. Why?" Freya hesitated before describing the gray sedan. She expected him to tell her she was imagining things.

Instead, Louis called. "Are you inside the apartment now?" His voice was calm, but noticeably colder. "Yes." "Lock the door." "It's already locked." "Don't go out alone again today." Freya frowned. "So I'm not imagining it?"

Louis didn't answer directly. "I'll be back soon." The call ended before she could question him further. Freya stared at her phone. A bankrupt antagonist, suspicious ex-boyfriend, original protagonists, and now someone apparently following her. This peaceful post-epilogue life was becoming increasingly complicated.

Forty minutes later, Louis entered the apartment with Derek. Freya gave them the partial license plate. Derek wrote it down and promised to check. "It could be nothing," he said. "But we'll make sure."

Freya crossed her arms. "You two are being suspicious again." Louis met her gaze. "Until we know who it was, be careful." "Fine. But if your bankruptcy comes with kidnappers, that should have been disclosed before I agreed not to divorce you." Derek coughed to hide a laugh.

Louis, however, looked at her for several seconds. "If anyone approaches you because of me, call me immediately." Freya noticed the seriousness in his eyes and stopped joking. She nodded. Whatever secrets Louis was hiding, she suddenly understood that the story outside her apartment might be much more dangerous than the novel had ever shown.

Neither of them realized that the small changes in their daily life were slowly pulling them deeper into the conflicts left behind by the original story. What had begun as a temporary arrangement after bankruptcy was becoming something far more complicated, and the people watching Louis were beginning to understand that Freya was no longer the predictable weakness they had expected her to be.