Chapter 14 - Shadows in the DarkWith Vanguard Manor secured and the legal battles temporarily silenced, I turned my full focus back to expanding the Sanctuary. We had twenty women living in the estate now—survivors of domestic abuse, corporate silencing, and severe psychological manipulation. Every single one of them had a story that mirrored my own, a reminder of why I couldn't afford to rest.
It was late, past midnight, when I walked out onto the second-floor balcony to catch a breath of cool night air. The rose garden below glowed silver under a full moon.
That was when I heard it. A faint crunch of gravel from the driveway below.
I froze, my instincts instantly flaring. The iron gates were gone, replaced by low stone pillars, but the property was equipped with modern thermal motion sensors tied directly to my personal tablet.
I slipped back inside my bedroom, grabbed my secure encrypted tablet from the nightstand, and pulled up the perimeter camera feeds.
Four cameras showed the front lawn, the side courtyards, and the rear gate. All clear.
Then I checked camera five—the blind spot behind the old carriage house where the heavy oak trees met the perimeter wall.
A dark figure stood motionless in the shadows, staring directly up at my bedroom window. The figure wore a heavy hoodie, its face obscured by the brim of a cap, but something about the posture—the rigid, unnatural stance—made my spine freeze.
It wasn't a random trespasser. It was someone staking out the house.
My burner phone buzzed violently against the bedside table. I snatched it up. An unknown number flashed on the screen, originating from a burner relay tower downtown.
May you like
I swiped to answer, pressing the phone to my ear.
"If you think winning a court case means you're safe, Mave, you're more naive than I thought," a distorted, mechanical voice hissed through the speaker before the line clicked dead.
