Page 30 of Vows of Silence

“I’m not crazy. Silaswashere. He was watching me.”

“We checked the cameras. He wasn’t seen anywhere.”

“I know whatIsaw.”

He turned then to fully look at me. “You would do well to keep your guard up, Isabelle. The only person you can trust is yourself.”

And then he walked to his room, directly opposite mine, leaving me stumped.

Well. That didn’t sound ominous at all.

I walked into my room and unlocked my phone, half expecting a tonne of messages from Luca.

Instead, there was only one.

Unknown:Luca isn’t the only one who can play with cameras. Night, night, little bird.

Chapter 10

The Flame

The next few days passed in a blur.

Frank stepped up his guard dog routine and never left me alone for more than a minute. Whether through guilt, or he had been instructed, or a mixture of both, I wasn’t sure. But I was appreciative of it.

If my dad—or, more likely, Adrien—had instructed him to be extra vigilant with me, that also validated my memory of that night. Because fear has a way of making things hazy, of warping reality with horror. But the fact that my family was concerned proved to me that Silas was a real threat.

Adrien had even stepped up with his commitment to the engagement party, bringing it forward once again. I wasn’t even concerned anymore. Sure, the thought of marrying him fucking terrified me, and I knew I was still being naïve as to the reality of what married life would be like, but I was more terrified of remaining in this house.

The feeling of being watched had amplified. Every corner I turned, every meal I ate, every movement I made, I felt watched.

My skin never stopped itching with awareness. I was constantly tense. I closed my eyes and I would see that silver mask looming over me. And then, as the days progressed, I kept thinking I would see the mask in my house, in the gardens, surrounding me with its presence and evil.

And the worst part of it all was the fact I could no longer depend on Luca.

Every time I thought of him watching me through those cameras, I couldn’t help but think of Silas. Of that mask. It was unfair to blame Luca for it, but I saw so many similarities. I had always known allowing Luca into my life was a risk—that it was fucking stupid, if I’m being honest. But I’d responded to his warmth and affection, and now I was paying the price—the cameras, the easy access to every aspect of my days, the constant surveillance. There was nowhere to hide, not from Luca, and not from anyone else.

I also resented Luca for abandoning me—I know he hadn’t. Not really. I was such a hypocrite because I was mad that he was watching me and then mad that he’d disappeared for five minutes. I was a mess, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any better unless I removed all of this nonsense permanently.

So I pulled away from him, rarely responding to his texts. I shut down our online streaming account and stopped watching our TV shows. He texted me constantly, and even tried ringing on a few occasions. To start with, I was a mix of scared and pissed off, and so I hadn’t responded as frequently. And then I stopped being as frightened and grew more angry, so I stopped replying at all.

The final move had been switching my phone off completely, and last night I had covered all the cameras I could find. I wassure I had missed more than a few, but he would get the message anyway.

I was done playing this game.

I had been stupid to entertain it in the first place. What sort of idiot replies to an anonymous text and essentially starts a relationship with their stalker?

Well, I was an idiot no longer.

The weird thing was, though, that the more I revoked Luca’s access to me, the more the feeling of being watched amplified. As though I had made the wrong move in a game I didn’t know I was playing.

I checked the cameras hourly, ensuring they were still covered, but my skin still burnt in awareness, feeling eyes all over me.

It was impossible, and yet I was beginning to realise nothing was impossible at all. Not in this life.

My father had tried talking to me a few times over the past few days. I knew he was more than a little suspicious of what had happened the other night, and he was trying to work out what I had overheard. But whatever Silas had done to erase himself from those cameras, he’d also done the same with my footage too.

No one could prove I was present during that meeting, and I wasn’t going to open my mouth and let them in on the truth.