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"So you stay sharp," he says smoothly. "So you know what you’re up against."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Nothing," Cain says. "I'll handle Nolan. I'll keep you and your grandmother safe."

The mention of my grandmother reminds me of the meal she’s cooking, and her hospital appointment later. I shake my head, trying to clear the dizzying noise in my mind. "I... I have to go."

To my absolute horror, he doesn't try to stop me or issue another command. He simply gives me a single nod. "Driver’s waiting downstairs to take you home."

I turn on my heel and walk quickly out of the office, my shoes tapping against the floor as I head down the floating stairs. But as I step through the grand front entrance, a sick realization hits me in the chest—a tiny, pathetic part of me is deeply disappointed that he didn't grab my wrist and ask me to stay a little longer.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ALEXIS

Within three hours, I’m helping Milly into a taxi to make her late-afternoon appointment. The entire drive to the clinic, my mind is an absolute warzone—torn between the terrifying imagery of Nolan’s surveillance photos and the memory of Cain’s dark eyes locking onto mine in that huge office.

At the specialist center, the nurse gently escorts Milly into the back lab for her routine blood panel and brain scans.

With Milly settled, I take a deep breath and walk down the sterile hallway toward the billing office. My stomach knots up like it always does whenever I have to face the finance department.

I need an update on my running debt, to see if I can stretch my next Blackwood paycheck enough to cover the overdue balances before they pause her therapy.

I step up to the acrylic window. The receptionist, a middle-aged woman with thick glasses, taps at her keyboard before pulling up Milly’s file.

"Ah, Miss Hayes," she says, scanning the monitor. Her tired face suddenly lightens into a slight smile. "Well, your account is completely up to date."

I pause, leaning closer to the counter. "What do you mean? I haven’t paid last month’s bill..."

"Oh, well," the woman interrupts, turning the screen slightly toward me. "The entire overdue expense for the last three months, plus the advance for next month's treatments—it's all been cleared. Paid in full."

Ice pours through my veins. Every drop of color drains from my face.

Nolan.

He has her medical schedule. He has her records. This isn't a gift; it's a terrifying flex of ownership, showing me that he can reach right into my personal life whenever he wants.

"When... when was this paid?" I ask, my voice trembling so hard it barely carries across the desk.

The woman checks the receipt log. "This morning. Just after nine."

"Who paid it?" My hands grip the edge of the counter until my knuckles turn ghost white. "What was the name on the transaction?"

She glances back down at the screen. "It was a wire transfer under the name John Smith."

Panic spikes wildly in my chest. He’s closing in. He’s playing with me, laying down money to trap me before he makes his real move.

“Thank you.”

I stumble away from the desk without saying another word, blindly walking down the corridor toward the waiting area. I fish my phone out of my bag with trembling fingers, my thumb hovering over the screen as the terror threatens to choke me completely.

I press the phone to my ear, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I don't even stop to process the insanity of who I'm reaching out to in my moment of absolute panic. But the second the line connects, he picks up on the very first ring.

"Doll," his low, gravelly voice rumbles through the speaker, steady and instantly grounding.

"It's Nolan," I rush out, the words tumbling over each other as I push open the double doors of the waiting area. "He... he paid Milly's medical bills, Cain. All of them. Two months of back expenses and next month in advance. Under some fake name this morning. He's playing with me. He's showing me he can⁠—"

"Alexis," Cain cuts in, his voice dropping an octave into something dark, lethal, and completely composed. "Text me the address. I'm coming."