The Echos of You

Chapter 4 part 4

Maya stepped back from the mirror, heart racing.

She turned—
But Adrian was gone.

Only the feeling remained:
The heat.
The ache.
The pull.

But the reflection haunted her more than his touch ever could.

If he hadn't been there...
Then what was pressing into her skin?

She dropped onto her bed, wrapping her arms around herself like she could hold her body together.

And then the lights flickered.

The book flipped open on its own again, this time to a page she hadn't seen before.

Black ink bled across the paper like it was alive, forming just five words:

"You were never the target."

She stared, her throat dry.

What did that mean?

Before she could move, her phone lit up —
this time with a photo.

An old, grainy surveillance still.
A dark alley.
A figure in a hoodie, face hidden...
leaving destruction in his wake.

Flames. Shattered glass.
Bodies collapsed mid-step like the air had been sucked from their lungs.

And standing at the center of it all...
Him.

Adrian.

But he wasn't looking at the camera.

He was looking through it.

And even in the static and blur—
his eyes looked empty.

Like he hadn't felt anything...

Until her.