Chapter 5 - Shadows and Surveillance
For the next two weeks, Abby’s life transformed into a surreal, golden cage.
She arrived at the penthouse every morning at 8:00 AM, working under the watchful, silent presence of the luxury estate. While Julian rarely showed his face—he usually worked from his downtown headquarters during the day—his influence was everywhere.
The leaky bedroom wall in her apartment had miraculously been repaired by a professional contractor who claimed it was part of a "building-wide tenant appreciation grant." Her father’s medical facility called to inform her that his rehabilitation balance had been paid in full by an anonymous philanthropic trust. Her brother Leo received an unexpected merit-based fellowship that covered his entire tuition.
Abby wasn't stupid. She knew none of these miracles were accidents. They all pointed back to the billionaire owner of the penthouse.
On a rainy Thursday afternoon, Abby was polishing the grand piano in the penthouse music room when she noticed something odd behind a heavy velvet drape near the corner. A small, circular optical lens gleamed softly in the dim light—a hidden security camera angled directly toward the entrance.
Her breath caught. She walked over, pulled the drape back further, and stared straight into the lens.
She knew he was watching. She knew he had been watching her the entire time.
Without breaking eye contact with the camera, Abby walked over to the mahogany desk where a notepad and pen sat neatly arranged. She tore off a clean sheet of paper, scribbled a short message in bold, sharp handwriting, and walked back to the camera, holding the paper right up against the lens so it filled the entire frame.
The note read:
*“I am not a lab rat, Mr. Cross. If you have something to say to me, say it to my face.”*
Thousands of blocks away, in his high-rise corporate boardroom where a dozen executives were in the middle of a tense merger presentation, Julian Cross suddenly froze mid-sentence.
He stared at his laptop screen, where the live security feed of the music room showed Abby’s defiant, blazing eyes staring right back at him through the camera.
A slow, dangerous smile crept across Julian’s lips.
May you like
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Julian said smoothly, standing up and buttoning his jacket. “The meeting is adjourned. We’ll finish this tomorrow.”
---
