Chapter 42\u00a0<\/p>\n
A\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leah and I finished up the day\u2019s work, but I couldn\u2019t concentrate on anything. My mind kept wandering to Sera lying in that hospital bed, to the similarities between her story and mine, to the way Tristan had dropped everything to be there for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we finally closed up, Leah offered to drive me home as planned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cActually,\u201d I said, making a sudden decision, \u2018could you drop me at the market? I want to get some things to make dinner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked surprised but nodded. \u201cOf course. I can wait for you if you want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be great,\u201d I said, grateful for her company. The thought of being completely alone right now didn\u2019t appeal to me,\u00a0<\/p>\n
The market was busy with the evening rush, families picking up last\u2013minute ingredients for dinner, couples debating over wine choices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I moved through the aisles mechanically, grabbing ingredients for Tristan\u2019s favorite pasta dish. Cooking for him felt like something concrete I could do, a way to show care when everything else felt so complicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was walking back to where Leah was parked, bags of groceries in both hands, when something made me freeze in the middle of the\u00a0<\/p>\n
sidewalk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A man was walking about fifty feet ahead of me, and something about his silhouette made my breath catch in my throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The way he carried his shoulders, the length of his stride, the familiar set of his dark hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it was his clothes that made my blood turn to ice. The same black shirt he\u2019d been wearing the day I rejected him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daxon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It couldn\u2019t be. It was impossible. He was an ocean away. There was no way he\u2019d followed me here, no way he\u2019d tracked me down after all\u00a0<\/p>\n
this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as I watched him walk, every instinct I had was screaming that it was him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena!\u201d Leah was calling from her car, probably wondering why I\u2019d stopped moving. \u201cEverything okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t answer. Couldn\u2019t move. Couldn\u2019t do anything but stare at the figure walking away from me with growing certainty and terror.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had to know for sure. Had to confirm whether my worst nightmare had just become reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dropping the grocery bags where I stood, I started following him, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was moving at a casual pace, like he had all the time in the world, like he wasn\u2019t being followed by the woman whose life he\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:37 Fri, Jan 2 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 42\u00a0<\/p>\n
destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know how far I\u2019ve been following, but then he suddenly stopped walking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man took what felt like an eternity to turn around. I stood there frozen, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I thought it\u00a0<\/p>\n
might burst.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands were shaking uncontrollably, the tremors starting in my fingertips and spreading up my arms like an earthquake through my\u00a0<\/p>\n
entire body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
46\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was only then that I looked around and realized with growing horror where I was. We were in an alley. A narrow, dark alley with brick\u00a0<\/p>\n
walls on both sides and only one way out \u2013 the way I\u2019d come from.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t even noticed my surroundings when I\u2019d chased after him. I\u2019d been so focused on confirming my worst fears that I\u2019d walked\u00a0<\/p>\n
straight into a trap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How could I be so stupid? All those hours of training with Kiara, all those lessons about being aware of your environment, and I\u2019d thrown it all away the moment I thought I saw Daxon. I\u2019d let panic and old trauma override every bit of common sense I\u2019d managed to rebuild.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If this really was him, if he\u2019d somehow tracked me across an ocean and found me here, there would be nowhere to run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The alley was a dead end, and even if I screamed, who would hear me? Who would come running to help a girl who\u2019d been dumb enough\u00a0<\/p>\n
to follow a dangerous man into a place with no witnesses?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 42 Chapter 42\u00a0 A\u00a0 Leah and I finished up the day\u2019s work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}