Maya's POV
"Stay away from the windows."
Emily's hand gripped my shoulder as she pulled me back from the gallery's glass front. Outside, red and blue police lights painted the street, but somewhere in those shadows, someone was watching.
Someone who'd just sent that photo.
"We need to move her now," the officer said into his radio. "Suspect had accomplices. Target is compromised."
Target. He meant me.
My legs felt like water. "I don't understand. Jake's arrested. It's over."
"It's not over." Emily's face was grim. "Jake was never working alone. I tried to tell the police three months ago, but they didn't believe me. They thought I was paranoid, traumatized. But I knew. When he held me in that cabin, he made phone calls. Talked to someone about 'the collection.' About other women."
"Other women?" The room tilted.
"We need to get her somewhere secure," Sebastian said. He'd moved to stand between me and the windows, blocking the view. "My apartment is two blocks away. Top floor. Good security."
The officer shook his head. "Too close. We're taking her to a safe house outside the city."
"No." The word came out stronger than I felt. "No, my parents. If Jake's partners know about me, they know about my family. We have to warn them."
The officer spoke into his radio again, then nodded. "Units are being dispatched to your parents' address now. But Ms. Chen, we need to move you immediately—"
My phone buzzed in my pocket. The one Sebastian said I'd left in the bathroom. Except I hadn't left it anywhere.
The screen showed a text from an unknown number:
"Six months. That's how long we've been watching you, Maya. Long before you met Jake. He was just supposed to bring you to us. But he got greedy. Wanted to keep you for himself. We don't make the same mistake twice."
My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the phone.
Another message appeared:
"Your parents are having dinner right now. Lasagna. Your father just poured your mother more wine. They have no idea we're in the house with them."
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no—"
Emily grabbed the phone and read the messages. Her face went white. "It's them. The same people who took the others."
"What others?" Sebastian demanded.
"The police found connections between Jake and four other missing women over the past two years. Different cities, different circumstances, but the same pattern. Women who disappeared after dating men they met through a specific dating app." Emily looked at the officer. "You need to get to her parents NOW."
The officer was already running for the door, shouting orders into his radio.
I tried to follow, but Emily held me back. "You can't go there. That's exactly what they want."
"Those are my PARENTS!"
"And they'll use them as bait to get you." Emily's voice was firm but not unkind. "I know it's horrible. I know you want to save them. But if you go there, you'll all die."
Sebastian's phone rang. He answered it, listened for a moment, then his face went slack. "That was my gallery manager. She just found something. Someone left a package for Maya at the front desk. It was delivered an hour ago."
"Don't touch it," the officer still in the room said immediately. "Could be a bomb—"
"It's not a bomb." Sebastian's voice was hollow. "It's a box. With a note that says 'Happy Six Month Anniversary.' And inside is..." He swallowed hard. "Inside is a photo album. Full of pictures of Maya. Going back six months."
Six months. Before I'd met Jake. Before I'd thought anyone was watching.
They'd been planning this for six months.
"I need to see it," I said.
"Ms. Chen, I really don't think—"
"I NEED TO SEE IT!"
Sebastian brought the box over carefully, like it might bite. Inside was a leather-bound album, expensive and carefully made. The kind you'd use for wedding photos or precious memories.
But these weren't precious memories.
The first page showed me leaving my apartment six months and two days ago. I was wearing my blue jacket, carrying my coffee. I looked happy. Unaware.
The next pages showed me at work. At the grocery store. At my parents' house. Walking my friend's dog. Getting a haircut.
Someone had documented my entire life.
And at the bottom of each page, written in elegant handwriting, were notes:
"Subject maintains regular schedule. Easy to predict."
"Subject trusts easily. Makes frequent eye contact with strangers."
"Subject has close relationship with parents. Exploitable weakness."
I flipped faster, my stomach churning. More photos. More notes. Then, halfway through the album, Jake appeared in the pictures. Jake walking past me at the coffee shop. Jake "accidentally" bumping into me.
The note on that page read: "Agent deployed. Initial contact successful."
Agent. They'd called Jake an agent. Like this was some kind of mission.
The final pages were empty except for one last note:
"Phase One: Build trust - COMPLETE
Phase Two: Isolate subject - INTERRUPTED Phase Three: Acquisition - TONIGHT
Location: Rooftop garden, 47 Riverside Drive, 9:00 PM
Subject will come willingly to save parents. No force necessary."
I looked at the time on my phone. 8:47 PM.
Thirteen minutes.
"It's a trap," Emily said unnecessarily. "They're telling you exactly where to go because they know you'll come."
"Of course I'll come! They have my parents!"
"We don't know that for sure," Sebastian said gently. "That text could be a bluff. The police are on their way—"
My phone buzzed again. This time it was a video call.
Unknown number.
My finger hovered over the decline button. Emily shook her head sharply. "Don't answer. That's what they—"
I answered.
The screen filled with my parents' living room. Mom and Dad sat on the couch, hands zip-tied behind their backs, tape over their mouths. They were alive. Scared but alive.
A distorted voice spoke off-camera: "Hello, Maya. As you can see, your parents are fine. For now. Come to the rooftop address within thirteen minutes. Come alone. If we see police, if you bring anyone with you, if you try anything clever—we'll start by cutting off your mother's fingers. One per minute until you arrive. Do you understand?"
"Yes," I whispered.
"Good girl. Oh, and Maya? Don't bother trying to be brave. We've been watching you for six months. We know exactly how you'll react. We know you'll try to call the police anyway. We know you'll ask your friends to follow at a distance. We've planned for all of it. The only way your parents survive is if you walk onto that rooftop alone at exactly 9:00 PM."
The call ended.
The officer's radio crackled: "Units at the Chen residence. House is empty. No sign of the parents. No sign of forced entry."
"They took them," I said numbly. "They really took them."
Emily grabbed my arms and forced me to look at her. "Listen to me. I know what you're thinking. I know because I thought the same thing. But if you go there alone, they will take you. And then they'll kill your parents anyway because they're witnesses. These people don't leave loose ends."
"Then what do I do?" Tears streamed down my face. "Just let my parents die?"
"We call in backup. SWAT team. Hostage negotiators—"
"There's no time! It's an eleven-minute drive and I have twelve minutes left!"
Sebastian stepped forward. "Then we don't drive. My apartment building is 47 Riverside Drive. The rooftop is seven floors up. We're two blocks away. We can run there in three minutes."
Everyone stared at him.
"Your apartment?" Emily said slowly. "They chose your apartment building? That's not a coincidence."
Sebastian's face went pale. "I don't understand. I've never met these people. I don't know anything about this."
"Are you sure?" The officer's hand moved to his gun. "Because it's awfully convenient that—"
"He's not part of this," I said, surprising myself with my certainty. "They chose his building because they've been watching me. They knew I'd be at his gallery tonight. They're using everything against me."
My phone buzzed. Another message:
"Eleven minutes, Maya. Tick tock. Your mother is crying. Would you like to hear her scream?"
I was moving before I could think, running for the gallery exit.
"Maya, wait!" Emily chased after me, with Sebastian and the officer right behind her.
I burst onto the street. Two blocks. I could see the building from here—a tall brick structure with a rooftop garden visible from the ground. Lights glowed up there. Someone was waiting.
"You can't do this alone!" Emily caught my arm.
"I have to!"
"Then let me come with you. I've been where you are. I know how they think—"
"They'll kill my parents if I don't come alone!"
"They'll kill your parents anyway!" Emily's voice cracked. "Maya, please. I couldn't save the others. Let me save you."
The others. Four missing women. Dead because of these people.
I thought about my mom's smile. My dad's terrible jokes. Sunday dinners and childhood memories and everything I stood to lose.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to Emily.
Then I ran.
Behind me, I heard Emily yell at Sebastian and the officer to follow at a distance. Heard them calling for backup. But I couldn't wait. Couldn't risk it.
I reached the building in two minutes. The front door was unlocked—they'd left it open for me. The elevator was waiting, doors already open.
I stepped inside. There was only one button lit: Rooftop.
As the elevator climbed, I caught my reflection in the metal doors. I looked terrified. Young. Helpless.
"We know exactly how you'll react," the distorted voice had said.
They thought they knew me. Thought they'd planned for everything.
But they'd made one mistake.
They'd given me twelve minutes instead of ten. And in those extra two minutes, I'd realized something important.
The elevator dinged. Rooftop level.
The doors slid open onto a beautiful garden space. String lights overhead. Potted trees. A small table set for two with candles and champagne. Like someone had planned a romantic dinner.
Like someone had planned a perfect anniversary date.
My parents sat in chairs near the edge of the roof, still bound and gagged. Alive.
And standing between me and them was a woman I'd never seen before. Tall, elegant, probably in her fifties. She wore an expensive suit and smiled like we were old friends.
"Hello, Maya. I'm so glad you could make it." She gestured to the romantic table. "Please, sit. We have so much to discuss."
"Let my parents go."
"Of course. Eventually. But first, you need to understand something." The woman walked to the table and poured two glasses of champagne. "Six months ago, I hired Jake to watch you. To document your routine. To see if you'd be suitable for our organization."
"What organization?"
"That's not important right now. What's important is that you passed every test. You're kind, trusting, predictable. You have close family ties, which makes you easy to control. And you're exactly the right age and background our clients prefer." She smiled. "You're perfect, Maya. Absolutely perfect."
My stomach turned. "Clients?"
"Did you really think this was about obsession? About some man wanting to keep you locked in a cabin?" The woman laughed. "Jake was supposed to deliver you to us. Instead, he decided to keep you for himself. Very unprofessional. Very disappointing. But his loss is our gain. Now we have you right where we want you."
"The police are coming."
"Let them come. By the time they get here, you'll be gone." She gestured to a door on the far side of the roof. "There's a helicopter waiting. You're going to walk through that door voluntarily. And do you know why?"
I didn't answer.
"Because if you don't, I'll push your mother off this roof." The woman's smile never wavered. "It's a seven-story drop. She won't survive. So really, you have no choice at all."
She was right. I had no choice.
Or did I?
I looked at my parents. At their terrified eyes. At the woman blocking my path to them.
And I remembered what Emily had said: "I couldn't save the others."
Four women, dead or missing. Because they'd made the same choice I was about to make. Walk through that door. Trust that compliance would save their families.
But Emily had also said something else: "The only way your parents survive is if you walk onto that rooftop alone."
Except I hadn't walked on alone.
I smiled.
"You're right," I said to the woman. "I have no choice. So I'll walk through that door. But first, can I say goodbye to my parents? Just thirty seconds. That's all I'm asking."
The woman considered this. "Twenty seconds. And I'll be watching."
I walked slowly toward my parents, and the woman didn't stop me. Why would she? She thought she'd won.
I knelt in front of my mom and dad. Touched their faces. Whispered, "I love you. Close your eyes and don't open them no matter what you hear."
Then I stood and turned to face the woman.
"Actually," I said, "I changed my mind. I'm not going through that door."
The woman's smile faded. "Excuse me?"
"You said you've been watching me for six months. That you know exactly how I'll react. But here's the thing—you don't know me at all."
I pulled out my phone and held it up. The video call with my parents hadn't actually ended. It had been running this entire time, streaming everything to Emily's phone downstairs.
"Say hello to the police," I said.
The rooftop door burst open. SWAT team. Rifles. Tactical gear.
The woman's face twisted with rage. She lunged for my mother—
But Sebastian was faster.
He'd climbed the fire escape and come up the back way. Now he tackled the woman to the ground before she could reach my parents.
More officers poured onto the roof. Someone cut my parents free. Emily appeared, hugging me tight while I shook uncontrollably.
"You recorded everything," she said, laughing and crying at the same time. "You brilliant, brave, reckless girl."
"You said they'd planned for everything. But they didn't plan for me to be smart." I watched as officers handcuffed the woman and led her away. "They saw me as a victim. As someone helpless. They were wrong."
My mother wrapped me in the tightest hug of my life. My father couldn't stop saying, "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay."
Sebastian stood awkwardly to the side until I pulled him into the group hug too.
"Thank you," I whispered. "For believing me. For helping."
"Always," he said simply.
It took three more hours for the police to process the scene. The woman—her name was Patricia Vance—wasn't talking, but her phone had enough evidence to bring down what the police were calling "an interstate trafficking ring." Dozens of people were being arrested. Emily had been right—there were others.
But they'd be safe now. Because tonight, the pattern had been broken.
As dawn broke over the city, I stood on that rooftop again. The romantic dinner table was still there, untouched. Champagne going flat. Candles burned down to nothing.
"They planned it to look like an anniversary dinner," Sebastian said, coming to stand beside me. "Six months of watching you. Sick."
"Yeah." I looked at the view—the city waking up, lights flickering on in windows, people starting their normal days with no idea what had happened here. "You know what's crazy? I never celebrated a six-month anniversary before. I didn't even know people did that."
"My sister does. She and her husband celebrate every month. Says you should acknowledge when you're happy, even for small milestones." Sebastian paused. "Though I guess this isn't really the right time to—"
"Sebastian." I turned to face him. "Thank you. For tonight. For the gallery. For everything."
"I just did what anyone would do."
"No. You did what a friend would do. A real friend." I squeezed his hand. "I know we just met through all this chaos, but I want you to know—you changed things for me tonight. You helped me realize I'm stronger than people think. Stronger than I thought."
He smiled. "You were always strong, Maya. You just needed to see it."
The sun continued to rise, and somewhere in the city, my parents were safe in their home. Emily was giving her statement to police, finally able to stop running. Jake was in custody, along with Patricia and dozens of others.
It was over.
Or was it?
My phone buzzed one last time. Emily's number.
"Maya, we found Patricia's files. There's something you need to see. Can you come to the police station?"
I showed Sebastian the message. "Never ends, does it?"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
I thought about it. Thought about everything I'd been through. Everything I'd survived.
"Yeah," I said finally. "I'd like that."
We left the rooftop together as the city came alive around us. Whatever was in those files, whatever came next, I knew one thing for certain:
I wasn't anyone's victim anymore.
And I was just getting started.
At the police station, Emily met us with a folder. Her hands were shaking.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Patricia's client list. Names, addresses, transactions going back five years." Emily opened the folder, and her face was pale. "Maya, there are three hundred names on this list. Three hundred people paying for women. And I recognized one of the names."
She turned the folder toward me.
The name at the top of the list, marked as "VIP Client 1," made my heart stop:
Sebastian Cross.
I looked at Sebastian, standing next to me, his face a mask of confusion.
"That's not possible," he said. "I've never seen this list before. I don't know these people—"
Emily pulled out another document. "This is a bank transfer. From your account. To Patricia's organization. Fifty thousand dollars. Dated two weeks ago."
"I didn't—" Sebastian's voice broke. "Maya, you have to believe me. I would never—"
But Emily was already signaling to the officers at the door.
And I stood there, frozen, watching as the man who'd just saved my life was being accused of funding the organization that had tried to take it.