Chapter 6

The Secret File

Liam's POV

The third knock hit through my apartment, slow, measured and patient. Whoever stood outside wasn't pounding on the door like an impatient visitor, but they were waiting for me.

I tightened my grip on my hockey stick and moved to the entrance, careful not to make a sound. Every instinct screamed that opening the door was a mistake, but pretending no one was home wouldn't make them disappear.

I stopped beside the peephole, I looked through it, there's nothing and the hallway was empty. A knot formed in my stomach, and I unlocked the door just enough to pull it open a few inches.

"Hello?" I asked, but silence answered me.

The corridor stretched in both directions under the pale fluorescent lights, there were no footsteps, no voices and no one at sight.

I opened the door wider, but still nothing, no sign of anyone. But then my eyes dropped to the floor, where a small black envelope rested inside the welcome mat.

It hadn't been there seconds ago, I stepped into the hallway and looked both ways again. The elevator doors were closed, the stairwell door hadn't moved.

Whoever left it had vanished impossibly fast.

I picked up the envelope, I looked at it, there's no name and no stamp but only a black wax seal pressed with the shape of a wolf's head. A strange feeling settled in my chest.

I'd never seen that symbol before. Back inside, I locked every bolt on the door before placing the second envelope beside the first file. For a long moment, I simply stared at it.

Two anonymous deliveries in one night, someone was either trying to help me...or trying to control me. I broke the seal, inside it was a single folded sheet slid into my hand, no greeting and no signature but only one sentence.

You're being watched. Trust no one who profits from your future. And below it was a flash drive taped neatly to the page, my pulse jumped. I hurried to my laptop and plugged it in.

The drive contained only one folder. GAME FOOTAGE Confused, I opened it.

Dozens of short video clips appeared, and every clip featured me.

Practice sessions, league games, training camps and charity events. Some footage had obviously come from televised broadcasts. But others...others couldn't have.

One video showed me arriving alone at the practice rink before sunrise, and another captured me leaving the university library at night. And another showed me jogging through campus wearing headphones.

The camera angles were wrong, hidden. Whoever recorded them hadn't been part of any television crew, but they'd been following me. For months, or maybe longer.

A cold sweat spread from my back. I clicked another file, this one showed me and Mia leaving a restaurant nearly a year ago. The camera zoomed in as she whispered something in my ear.

Then the recording abruptly froze, someone had typed a caption across the screen. TARGET SECURED "What does that even mean?" I muttered.

Before I could open another file, my phone vibrated across the table, unknown Number again. I hesitated before answering. "...Hello?" For several seconds, all I heard was breathing.

And then the call disconnected, almost immediately, another message appeared. It reads: Stop watching the videos. I stared at the screen. Another notification arrived before I could react.

They're already looking for the drive. My blood ran cold, I looked through my apartment door. Has someone planted cameras here?  Was whoever texted me outside, and watching me?

I rushed to the window overlooking the parking lot. A black SUV sat in the street with its headlights off. As I watched, the driver's door opened, and a man stepped out wearing a dark baseball cap.

He didn't look at my building, but he simply stood beside the vehicle, speaking into his phone. And seconds later...my own phone began ringing again. With an unknown Number.

I answered immediately. "What do you want?" A familiar voice spoke from the other end. "Turn off every light in your apartment." My heart stopped.

It was Noah. But before I could ask how he knew where I was, he spoke again, his voice tighter than I'd ever heard it. "Liam... don't look at the SUV." But it's too late.

The man beside it slowly lifted his head.

Even from four floors up...it felt like he was staring directly at me.