21: Just One Word

SEVEN.

I refused to start the car after we climbed in.

The arena parking lot had slowly emptied until only a few cars remained, yet I couldn't bring myself to drive away. Mikka sat beside me without moving, her phone still resting in her trembling hands. She stared through the windshield, but I could tell she wasn't seeing the road anymore. She looked trapped inside memories she had been trying to outrun for a very long time. The silence between us felt heavy, and every second that passed made me more certain that the call hadn't been the beginning of her nightmare. It had only reminded her that it never truly ended.

I turned toward her carefully.

"Mikka."

She blinked but didn't answer.

"How long has this been going on?"

She closed her eyes, and I watched her chest rise with a slow, shaky breath. For several long moments, she said nothing. I almost thought she wouldn't answer at all. Then she rubbed her hands together as if trying to warm them.

"It didn't start here," she whispered. "It started back in Australia."

I stayed quiet.

"My uncle disappeared months before I got my scholarship."

She laughed bitterly.

"He borrowed money from dangerous people. A lot of money. Then... he vanished."

She swallowed hard before continuing.

"They came looking for him."

"And when they couldn't find him..."

Her voice cracked.

"They came looking for me."

I frowned.

"They thought you knew where he was?"

She nodded.

"I told them I didn't. I begged them to believe me. They laughed."

Her fingers tightened around the phone until her knuckles turned white.

"They said family always cover up for family."

She looked down at her lap.

"When I won my scholarship to Canada, I thought I was finally free. I thought putting an ocean between us would be enough."

"It wasn't?"

She shook her head.

"They found me less than two months after I arrived."

A chill ran through my body.

"How?"

"I don't know."

She looked exhausted.

"At first it was just calls. They wanted money I didn't have."

Her breathing became uneven again.

"Then they started sending pictures."

"What kind of pictures?"

"Me leaving class."

She forced herself to continue.

"Me buying groceries. Me walking home."

Every word made my stomach twist tighter.

"They wanted me to know they could see everything."

I clenched my fists.

"Why didn't you tell the police?"

"I tried."

She laughed without humour.

"But what was I supposed to say? That someone kept texting me from unknown numbers? They told me to report it if anyone actually hurt me."

She looked at me with tired eyes.

"I kept hoping they'd stop. They didn't.”

My voice came out barely louder than a whisper. 

“They got worse."

She nodded slowly.

"When Levi left me..."

Her lips trembled.

"They realised I had nobody."

The words hit me harder than I expected.

She had really believed she was alone.

I thought back to the night outside Levi's penthouse. The neighbours laughing. The security guard throwing her outside. The videos spreading across the internet.

Everyone had seen her humiliation, but nobody had looked closely enough to notice her fear.

She wiped her eyes quickly.

"I never wanted you involved."

I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"The first time they mentioned your name..."

She looked away.

"I decided I would stop coming to the rink."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"I only wanted to help your hockey."

"You already did."

"I know."

She smiled sadly.

"Which was why I thought... once your game was better, I'd disappear."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"You seriously thought walking away would protect me?"

"Yes."

"Mikka—”

“They don't make empty threats, Seven,” she said sharply. Her voice suddenly became stronger as she looked straight into my eyes. "They wait until people feel safe."

A shiver ran down my spine.

"I used to change buses three times in Australia before going home."

She continued speaking, almost like she couldn't stop anymore.

"I slept at different friends' houses because I thought someone was outside my apartment."

She looked down.

"When I just got to Toronto... I never fully unpacked my suitcase."

"Because?"

"I didn't think I'd stay anywhere for long."

I glanced toward the small suitcase sitting behind her seat.

She had never truly arrived in Canada. She had only been hiding inside it.

Anger burned inside my chest—not because of her, but because all of this was happening all this while, and yet, nobody had noticed.

The internet called her a stalker. The university whispered behind her back. Levi threw her away like she meant nothing.

Meanwhile, she had been fighting fear every single day, completely alone.

Without thinking, I reached across the centre console and gently took the phone from her hands.

She looked at me in surprise.

I held the power button until the screen went black.

"There."

She stared at the dark screen.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

"Because you can't hide forever,” I answered. "You also can't fight this alone anymore."

Her eyes widened.

"No."

"No?"

"You don't understand."

"I understand enough."

She shook her head desperately.

"They'll destroy your career."

"I don't care."

"They'll come after your family."

"I'll deal with it."

"They'll—"

"Mikka, stop,” I interrupted softly.

She stopped talking.

"You helped me when nobody else believed I could get better."

"You deserved help."

"And so do you."

Her eyes filled with tears.

"You don't owe me anything."

"I know."

"Then why?"

I smiled faintly.

"Because good people shouldn't have to survive bad things by themselves."

She covered her mouth. For a few seconds she couldn't even speak. Finally, she whispered.

"No one has ever stayed."

"I am staying."

She looked at me as if she didn't know what to do with those words.

Slowly she reached for the door handle.

"I should go."

"Where?"

"I'll figure something out."

"Mikka."

She didn't answer.

Before either of us moved, bright headlights swept across the parking lot.

Both our heads turned as a dark sedan rolled slowly past the entrance.

My heartbeat quickened.

"The same car..." Mikka whispered.

It stopped several metres away from ours, neither window opened completely. Only the passenger window lowered halfway. Something small flew through the air and landed on the pavement beside my SUV.

The sedan pulled away without making another sound.

"Stay here."

"Seven, don't."

I was already opening my door.

The cold evening air hit my face as I hurried toward the object lying on the ground. It was a brown envelope—plain with no writing.

My wolf growled softly inside me as I picked it up.

Behind me, Mikka stepped out of the SUV despite my warning.

"Don't touch it," she pleaded.

She was too late. My fingers had already opened the flap. Inside were two photographs. The first showed Mikka leaving the university that afternoon. She hadn't known anyone was watching.

The second made my blood run cold. It was us, inside my SUV, taken less than five minutes ago.

Someone had been close enough to photograph us through the windshield.

Mikka covered her mouth.

"Oh God..."

A folded piece of paper slipped from the envelope.

I opened it slowly.

Only one sentence had been typed across the centre.

“You should have walked away when we warned you.”

I felt Mikka move closer beside me.

Her hand found my arm, but it wasn't to comfort me. She was shaking too hard to stand on her own.

I folded the photographs back into the envelope, my jaw tightening as my eyes darted around our surroundings in panic.