Ivy watched as the men in suits led Adrian away. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might break through her ribs.
She didn't know who he was. Not really. He'd said his name was just Adrian. He'd seemed like a man with problems, like someone holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. She'd felt bad for him.
But the way those guys came for him. The way they said his name like it meant something. Like he was important.
Like he was scary.
Ivy was still standing behind the bar when Marcus, her boss, came back from the storage room.
"What happened?" he asked, looking at the door where Adrian had been taken out.
"I don't know," Ivy said quietly. "Some men came and took him."
Marcus's face went very still. "What men? What did they look like?"
"Like lawyers. Or cops. Or... I don't know."
Marcus grabbed his phone and walked quickly to the back office. Ivy heard him making calls, his voice hurried and stressed. She didn't hear the words clearly, but she heard her name uttered a few times.
Her name. Why would her name matter?
By 6 AM, the bar was finally closed. Marcus told her to go home and not to say anything to anyone about what happened. Ivy clocked out and walked to the bus stop, her mind spinning with questions.
Who was Adrian?
Why did those guys want him?
And why did she feel like her life had just changed in a way she didn't understand?
The bus ride home took forty-five minutes. Ivy got off at her stop and walked up the three flights of stairs to her flat. Her feet were screaming. Her body was tired. She'd worked a full shift without eating and had been awake for over twenty-four hours.
But she couldn't sleep.
She took a shower and sat on her bed next to her mother. Mrs. Chen was sleeping, her face peaceful for once. No pain lines. No worry lines. Just her mother—tired but safe.
Ivy thought about what Adrian had said. About his father leaving. About being poor. About building something big and still feeling empty.
She pulled out her phone to check if he'd texted.
He hadn't.
Of course he hadn't. Why would he? Whatever had happened—whatever those guys wanted—Adrian wasn't thinking about a bartender he'd met in a dive bar. He was probably sitting in some expensive office right now with lawyers, asking questions, fixing problems.
Ivy set her phone down and tried not to feel sad.
She'd gotten maybe one hour of broken sleep when her phone buzzed.
Unknown number. A text message.
Hi. It's Adrian. I got your number from the bar's records. I hope that's not weird. I need to see you. Today if possible. There's something I need to tell you, and I can't do it over the phone. Can we meet?
Ivy sat up so fast her head got dizzy.
She read the message three times. Then four times.
Adrian. The man who'd been taken away by guys in suits. The man whose name apparently meant something important. He wanted to see her.
Her hands shook as she typed back: Where?
The answer came immediately: There's a coffee shop called "The Morning Sun" on Fifth and Main. Can you meet me there at noon? And Ivy—don't tell anyone we're meeting. Not your boss, not your friends, not anyone. It's important.
Ivy stared at the message.
Something about this felt dangerous. Something about this felt like the beginning of something she couldn't control.
But she wrote back anyway: I'll be there.
The coffee shop was nice. Clean. Full of people on their computers and phones. Ivy had never been there before. It was too expensive for her normal budget. But Adrian was already sitting at a corner table when she came, and he waved her over.
He looked different in the daylight. Tired. Scared. Like something inside him was breaking.
"Thank you for coming," he said. "I know this is weird. I know I'm probably scaring you. But I needed to see you. You're the only person I can trust right now."
Ivy sat down across from him. "What's going on? Who were those men?"
Adrian looked around, making sure nobody was listening. Then he leaned forward and his voice went low.
"The guys who came to get me were federal agents. They're investigating my company. Money went missing. A lot of money. And someone I trusted was involved."
"Marcus?" Ivy asked, remembering the story from the bar.
"Yes. But Marcus isn't the only one. There's someone else. Someone in my family. And if what I'm starting to believe is true, it's going to destroy everything."
Ivy's stomach twisted. "What do you mean?"
Adrian ran his hand through his hair. "I can't tell you the facts. Not yet. But I can tell you that I'm in real trouble. And I might need your help."
"My help? Why? I'm nobody. I'm just a bartender."
Adrian reached across the table and took her hand. His hand was warm and strong and shaking.
"That's exactly why I need you," he said. "You're nobody to them. You're unseen. And right now, being invisible might be the only edge I have."
Before Ivy could ask what he meant, Adrian's phone rang. He looked at it and his whole face went white.
"It's my mother," he whispered.
He answered the phone. "Hello?"
Ivy watched his face change. His eyes got wider. His jaw clenched. He closed his eyes like someone had just hit him.
"When?" he asked.
He listened for a long time. Then he said, "Okay. I'll be there."
He hung up.
"What happened?" Ivy asked.
Adrian looked at her, and she saw real fear in his eyes now. Not businessman fear. Not money fear. Real, deep, human fear.
"My mother just told me something," he said slowly. "She said the government agents found something they weren't expecting. Something that changes everything."
"What?"
Adrian's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "They found proof that Marcus wasn't taking the money alone. And it wasn't my mother either. There's a third person involved. Someone from my inner group. Someone so close to me that I see them every day."
Ivy leaned back. "Who?"
"That's the thing," Adrian said, and now his hands were shaking so badly he had to clasp them together. "My mother wouldn't tell me on the phone. She said she's scared. She said the person involved... they might be dangerous. She said they might do anything to protect their secret."
Ivy felt ice in her veins.
"And there's more," Adrian continued. "The officers told my mother something they found on Marcus's phone. Text messages. Between Marcus and this third person. And my name is in those messages. Repeatedly. They're planning something, Ivy. They're planning something involving me. And the spies think they might try something... soon."
"Try what?" Ivy asked.
Adrian stood up suddenly, his chair scraping against the floor. Several people looked over at them.
"I don't know yet," he said. "But my mother wants to meet me tonight. At the company office. Midnight. She says she has proof of who the third person is, and she's going to tell me everything."
Ivy stood up too. "Okay. So you'll go. You'll find out who—"
"No," Adrian interrupted. "You don't understand. My mother said something else. She said—" He paused, like the words were too scary to say out loud. " She said if I'm seen with any new people before tonight, it might tip off the third person. It might make them do something desperate."
"But you just saw me. You came here."
Adrian's eyes locked onto hers. "I know. And I'm starting to think that might have been a mistake."
"What do you mean?"
Adrian looked past her, toward the window. His expression went cold.
"I mean we might have just been followed," he said quietly. "I mean someone might know you exist now. And if that third person is as dangerous as my mother thinks they are... you might be in real danger too."
Ivy turned to look out the window.
And that's when she saw them.
Two people in dark clothes. Sitting in a car. Watching the coffee shop. Watching them.
Watching her.
Adrian grabbed her hand. "We need to leave. Now. Before they realize we know they're there. And Ivy—we can't be together. At least not until tonight. We can't let them connect us or they'll know I told you something. They'll know I'm onto them."
"But—" "Trust me," Adrian said. "If you trust me even a little bit, you'll listen to what I'm about to say."
Ivy nodded, frightened.
"Don't go to work. Don't go anywhere public. Go home and stay inside. Lock your doors. Don't answer calls from lines you don't know. And tonight at midnight—" He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote an address. "Meet me here. But don't let anyone follow you."
Ivy took the paper with shaking hands.
As Adrian paid for their coffees and they left the shop individually, Ivy realized something terrifying.
She was no longer unseen.
And someone out there was now watching her.
Someone dangerous.