ALIAS

The photograph burned into Adrian's retinas like a brand.

Seraphina, sleep…unaware and in the background…barely visible through the window, a shadow on the fire escape. Just standing, watching…waiting.

His phone slipped from his fingers and clattered against the marble floor but he didn't even notice.

"Fuck." He whispered. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!”

They kept leaving his mouth before he could stop them. Then he was moving, grabbing his keys, his jacket, anything within reach. His hands were shaking. He couldn't remember the last time his hands shook…but they did tonight.

The drive was a blur.

Red lights meant nothing, speed limits meant nothing and nothing mattered except getting to her…getting to her before—

“Don't think about it. Don't think about what happens if you're too late.” he yelled to himself in the car. He called her phone and it went straight to voicemail.

He called Stephanie. It rang. 

And rang. 

And rang.

“Come on. Come on. Pick up—”

But nothing.

He threw his phone into the passenger seat and pressed the accelerator harder. The city blurred past him in streaks of neon and darkness. 

“I can't breathe.” He thought as his breathing went shallow.

“She's fine. She has to be fine. Stephanie is there so she's fine.” But he didn't believe it…not even for a second.

When he got down, Adrian punched the car button repeatedly like it would make the doors close faster. When they finally closed, he ran. His shoes slapped against the polished hallway floor, echoing in the silence. He didn't care who saw him, didn't care about the security cameras or the neighbors or anything else.

He reached her door and slammed his fist against it.

"SERA!" Nothing.

"FUCK! SERAPHINA!" Still nothing.

His heart pounded so hard he could hear it in his ears. He stepped back, ready to break the door down—

Then it swung open.

Stephanie stood there, eyes wide, hair a mess, clutching a baseball bat like her life depended on it.

"The fuck—"

"Where is she?" Adrian pushed past her, his voice frantic. "Where is she?!"

"She's right there, you psycho—" And then he saw her.

Seraphina stood in the middle of the living room, wrapped in a blanket, her face pale and her eyes red-rimmed. She was alive, she was awake…she was fine.

Adrian's legs nearly gave out.

"Thank God," he breathed. "Thank God—"

"Sera, what the hell is happening?" Stephanie demanded, still holding the bat. "This lunatic just—"

But Adrian wasn't listening anymore. He crossed the room in three strides and pulled Seraphina into his arms. He held her so tightly she gasped, but he couldn't stop and couldn't let go.

"I thought I was too late," he whispered against her hair, his voice breaking. "I thought he had you…I thought—"

"I'm here." Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he heard it. "I'm still here."

"I know. I know. I just—" He pulled back to look at her, his hands framing her face. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did he—"

"Adrian." She placed her hands over his, her touch grounding him. "I'm okay. Stephanie woke me up when she heard you screaming."

He turned to glare at Stephanie. 

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

She glared right back. "Because I was busy trying to wake up your ex-wife before you broke down her door like a maniac!"

"The fire escape—"

"What about the fire escape?" Seraphina asked, her brows furrowing.

Adrian's blood ran cold. "He sent me a photo, a few minutes ago, of you sleeping and someone was watching you from the fire escape."

The color drained from Seraphina's face.

"He's been here," she whispered. "He's been watching me again."

Stephanie immediately rushed to the fire escape door. She threw it open, peering out into the darkness.

"Empty," she called back. "Nothing out here." Adrian shook his head. 

“No. No, he was there. I saw it."

"Maybe you're wrong," Stephanie said, but her voice wavered. "Maybe it was just a shadow—"

"It wasn't a shadow." Adrian walked toward the fire escape, his jaw tight. "I know what I saw."

He stepped onto the metal platform, scanning the darkness. The city hummed below, the wind whistled through the railings and nothing seemed out of place.

Then he saw it. Tucked beneath the bottom rail, almost invisible in the shadows, a small black device and it made his stomach drop

"What is that?" Seraphina asked from the doorway.

Adrian bent down and picked it up carefully.

It was a recording device. Small…almost invisible. The kind you'd use to listen to someone without them knowing.

He turned it over in his hands, there was a tiny button on the side and he pressed it without thinking.

And then he heard it.

Her voice, crying…alone, probably in the darkness of her bedroom. The sound of her sobbing, her broken whispers to herself, her desperate pleas for the pain to stop.

“Why does it still hurt? Why can't I just forget him? Why can't I just move on? I hate him. I hate him so much. But I still love him. I still fucking love him and I hate myself for it…”

Adrian's face went pale and his grip on the recorder tightened.

Seraphina's eyes went wide. 

"Is that—"

“Yeah…it's you.”

"That was two nights ago,"

Adrian's voice went hollow. 

"He's been listening to you cry." No one spoke.

The silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Then Stephanie broke it.

"Okay," she said, her voice shaking but determined. "Okay. We're not doing this again…we're not hiding and we're not waiting." She looked at Adrian. "You have resources, money and security. So USE them."

Adrian nodded slowly, still staring at the recorder in his hand.

"I'll call my team," he said. "We're going to find him and when we do—" His voice dropped. "I'm going to make him pay for every tear she's cried."

Stephanie nodded, satisfied. "Good."

But Seraphina wasn't looking at Adrian anymore. She was staring past him, into the darkness of the fire escape. Her eyes were wide.

"Adrian," she whispered.

"What?"

"Turn around." He turned and there, taped to the outside of the fire escape railing, was a single white rose.

Fresh, perfect…placed there moments ago.

“He was still here,"* Seraphina breathed. “He was here while you were holding me.”

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZZ

Adrian's phone buzzed in his pocket.

“You have got to be kidding me!” He pulled it out with trembling hands and of course, unknown Number. He opened the message and his blood turned to ice.

“You can't save her, Adrian. You've never been able to save anyone. Not your mother, not your marriage and not her but don't worry—I'll take care of her now. I'll take care of her better than you ever could.”

Beneath the message was a photograph.

Taken from the fire escape.

Adrian and Seraphina, locked in their embrace. The shot was captured from behind them. He had been standing there the entire time, watching them…documen

ting them. And his final words echoed in Adrian's mind

"I'll take care of her now."