Chapter 171

DAHLIA

I had learned the sound of my own footsteps well enough to know when they weren’t alone.

At first, I told myself it was nothing. Evening always sharpened paranoia—shadows stretching too long, echoes lingering where they shouldn’t.

The streetlights flickered on one by one as I left the bus stop, my bag hugged tight against my side, my thoughts still fractured from the confrontation earlier. From Sebastian. From everything.

But the feeling didn’t fade.

It followed.

A scuff of shoes behind me. Too deliberate to be coincidence. Too slow to be careless.

I glanced over my shoulder.

No one stood close enough to justify the chill crawling up my spine. Just a man crossing the street. A woman fumbling with her phone. Normal. Ordinary.

I walked faster.

The sound matched me.

My breath shortened. My grip tightened around my bag strap as I turned down a narrower road, one I usually avoided after sunset. The air felt heavier