Chapter 26: You Were Never Just a Target

Ryan didn’t sleep that night.

Even after the letter was turned in, even after the dorm RA called campus security and took a full report, even after the dean promised they were taking the threat “very seriously”

the fear clung to him like wet clothes. It was irrational maybe, to be so terrified of a single sentence. But when Adrien wrote, it wasn’t just words. It was a warning. A map of what he was willing to do.

Ryan lay on the couch in Chris’s dorm that night. Daniel took the floor beside him, refusing to leave. Chris stayed by the door, pretending to scroll through his phone, but Ryan could tell he was listening for any sound in the hallway. Something had shifted. None of them were pretending anymore that things would go back to normal.

“I should go to the police again,” Ryan whispered into the dark.

Daniel, still half awake, answered softly. “We already did. They have the letters, the footage, everything. We’ve done everything right.”

“Then why does it still feel like he’s already one step ahead?”

Daniel didn’t answer that.

Because it was true.

The next morning, Chris arranged a meeting with campus security. Not just a complaint, not another formal file an actual safety plan. Emergency contacts. Keycode changes.

A full sweep of Ryan’s building. The officer assigned, a broad shouldered man named Hale, took it seriously.

“This Adrien kid… he’s been disciplined before,” Hale said, flipping through the files Chris handed over. “Not for this. But… other things. Aggressive behavior. Insubordination. The kind of stuff that gets swept under the rug when your parents throw enough money at a university.”

Ryan’s stomach dropped. “So this isn’t new?”

“It’s not new to me.” Hale looked up at him. “But this? This is the first time it’s been documented this well. And with your report, his behavior’s moved into criminal territory.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

Hale hesitated.

That hesitation said more than anything else.

Chris broke the silence. “So what do we do?”

“You stay alert. We’ll increase patrols around your dorm. I’ll get your names flagged for any activity around campus entry points. If Adrien comes near you again, we’ll treat it like trespassing.”

Daniel looked unimpressed. “You’ll treat it like trespassing after he’s done something worse.”

Ryan’s voice was quiet. “We’re just waiting now.”

But he didn’t want to wait anymore.

That night, Ryan started locking his bedroom door. It was a small thing. A useless gesture in a building that Adrien had already proven he could slip into unnoticed. But it made Ryan feel like he had at least one inch of control.

He scrolled through old texts long after Chris had fallen asleep. Most of them were from Daniel, threads of conversations from weeks ago when they were still tiptoeing around each other. Before Adrien. Before all of this had poisoned everything.

One message stood out.

I think you’re stronger than you know. But that doesn’t mean you should have to be.

He closed the screen. And for reasons he couldn’t explain, he suddenly wanted to cry.

In the morning, something changed.

A new message arrived not on paper. But on his phone.

Unknown Number.

You’re good at surrounding yourself with loyal people. Let’s see what happens when they start to fall apart.

Ryan stared at the screen. A pit opened in his stomach.

He was being watched.

This wasn’t just about him anymore. Adrien was shifting targets. Chris. Daniel. Anyone close. Ryan’s defenses weren’t just about his own safety now they were about protecting the people who refused to let him walk through this alone.

He rushed to show them the message.

Chris swore loudly. “He’s baiting you.”

“Or setting us up,” Daniel said darkly. “This is psychological warfare. He’s trying to isolate you.”

Ryan was breathing fast. “He won’t stop. Not until he gets what he wants.”

“What does he want?” Chris demanded.

Ryan shook his head. “Control. Fear. Me.”

Daniel put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Then we stop playing on his terms.”

“How?” Ryan asked.

Daniel exchanged a glance with Chris. There was something unspoken in that moment. Some silent agreement Ryan wasn’t sure he understood.

Daniel spoke carefully. “Let’s get out of here. Not for good just… for the weekend.”

“What?”

“We leave campus. All three of us. Go somewhere he can’t follow. No phones. No noise. Just a break.”

Chris nodded. “My cousin has a cabin two hours away. Empty. Secluded. And very off grid.”

Ryan blinked. “You guys planned this?”

“Half planned,” Chris admitted. “We talked about needing an escape route. Now feels like the time to use it.”

Ryan hesitated. “What if he comes while we’re gone?”

“Then security handles it,” Daniel said. “They’ve got patrols. And Adrien doesn’t know where we’re going.”

Ryan didn’t answer. But later that night, when they packed their bags and slipped out under the fog of early dusk, he realized how deeply he’d needed this.

For the first time in weeks, there were no hallways to look over his shoulder in. No new letters. No glances that lingered too long. Just trees, wind, and the long road out of town.

The cabin was tucked into the hills, surrounded by a thicket of pine. Quiet. Isolated. The kind of quiet that should have been unnerving, but instead felt like a breath held in suspension.

They made a fire. Ate poorly heated noodles from a can. Sat under an old, crooked porch light with mismatched chairs. It wasn’t glamorous. But it was enough.

“Maybe I’m still scared,” Ryan said, breaking the silence. “Maybe I’ll never not be scared. But… I think I’m also angry now. Really angry.”

Daniel handed him a mug. “That’s a good sign.”

Chris leaned back in his chair. “Being scared means you care about staying alive. Being angry means you’re ready to fight for it.”

Ryan looked between them. “Thanks for coming.”

Chris snorted. “Dude, you didn’t have to ask.”

Daniel smiled faintly. “You were never just a target, Ryan. You’re someone we care about. You matter.”

The fire popped, sending a shower of sparks into the air. Ryan watched them fade into the dark. Something inside him shifted.

Maybe Adrien hadn’t expected this part.

Maybe he thought breaking Ryan would be easier.

But Ryan wasn’t alone. And for the first time in a long while, he remembered that he wasn’t weak either.

Not anymore.