The hunt

The night was quiet, but Audrey’s mind wasn’t.

She stood by her window in a silk nightgown, looking out over the city like a queen surveying her kingdom. But this queen was at war and her enemy was not just June, but June’s reputation, peace, and everything she had rebuilt from the ashes of a toxic marriage.

She picked up her phone and dialed.

It was a private number. One that only she had access to.

“Mr. Yemi?” she said smoothly.

The voice on the other end responded like a machine. “Yes.”

“I want hourly updates on her. I don’t care if she’s getting coffee or changing nail polish. I want names. Photos. Audio, if you can get it.”

“Already in motion, Miss Audrey,” Yemi replied. “She was at a spa this afternoon. With the same man. Xander. They left around 5:43 p.m., he had his hand on her waist. I’ve got pictures.”

Audrey smiled, slow and sinister. “Good. Make sure you catch them somewhere more… compromising. I want the next batch to be intimate. I want the public to see her as the liar she is.”

“And if they’re not doing anything?”

“Then make it look like they are,” Audrey snapped. “That’s why I hired you.”

The Investigator’s Hunt

Yemi was the kind of man who didn’t ask questions just delivered results.

His team shadowed June day and night. One operative trailed her when she went for yoga. Another followed her to lunch meetings. A third kept watch over her apartment.

June had no idea she was being tracked. Her days were filled with hopeful texts from Xander and quiet moments of reflection. She still wasn’t over Larry’s betrayal, but for once, she wasn’t drowning in pain. Xander’s presence made her feel… human again.

One evening, she and Xander walked together in the botanical garden just before sunset. They didn’t hold hands. They didn’t kiss. But they were close. And to Yemi’s camera, that was enough.

Click.

June turning her head and laughing softly.

Click.

Xander leaning closer to whisper something.

Click.

Their silhouettes side by side against a glowing sky.

He sent the pictures to Audrey without a word.

*****

Back at her penthouse, Audrey spread the photos on her glass dining table like tarot cards.

“You’re making this too easy, June,” she murmured, selecting the most intimate shots. “You think you’ve found peace? I’ll remind you what chaos feels like.”

She didn’t just want to ruin June. She wanted to break her, piece by piece.

She sent the photos to a PR spin doctor a woman who specialized in twisting narratives and influencing headlines through shady media partners.

“This is the story,” Audrey instructed, pacing. “June was already seeing this guy before her marriage ended. Larry didn’t cheat he reacted. She was the one having an affair.”

“But that’s not the truth,” the PR rep cautioned, brows furrowed.

Audrey’s eyes went ice cold.

“Truth is what people believe when it’s said enough times. The media doesn’t care who’s right. They care about who bleeds.”

Meanwhile: June Begins to Notice the Shadows

June was in a bookstore café with Xander, sipping tea and flipping through poetry books when something tugged at her mind.

“Do you ever feel like someone’s… watching you?” she asked suddenly, scanning the crowd.

Xander glanced up. “You feel that too?”

June nodded. “I thought I was just being paranoid. But I saw the same man outside my yoga class yesterday. Then again outside the bakery today. Just standing. Staring.”

Xander stiffened. “You think it’s Larry?”

“No,” she whispered, her gaze narrowing. “I think it’s Audrey.”

They exchanged a long look. The quiet safety June had found in Xander’s company suddenly felt fragile, like a paper boat floating in a storm.

“We need to be careful,” she said. “If she’s tracking me, it means she’s planning something.”

“I’ll get a counter investigator,” Xander replied, already texting someone. “If she wants to play dirty, we’ll beat her at her own game.”

June exhaled slowly. “I’ve fought too hard to let her drag me down now.”