Aria’s POV.
The messages started just after midnight, breaking the stillness of the room with a soft vibration from my phone on the nightstand. The sound wasn’t unusual-I’d gotten used to spam texts and random notifications at odd hours. At first, I thought it was just another one of those meaningless interruptions, the kind that didn’t deserve more than a glance before going back to sleep. But when I picked up the phone to check the notification, my heart skipped a beat.
“I like you.”
Three simple words. They sat there on the screen, glowing faintly in the darkness, seeming far too personal to be spam. My brows furrowed as I stared at the message, my mind sluggish from sleep. The number wasn’t saved in my contacts, and there was no name attached to it. Just a string of digits I didn’t recognize. For a moment, I convinced myself it had to be a mistake. Maybe someone had texted the wrong number.
I frowned, setting the phone back down on the nightstand with a sigh. It wasn’t worth responding to. Whoever it was would figure out soon enough that they’d messaged the wrong person. Pulling the blanket tighter around me, I rolled over and closed my eyes, willing myself to fall back asleep.
But I didn’t even get the chance.
Another buzz cut through the silence, the faint glow of the phone lighting up the room again. My stomach twisted as I reached for it, a strange sense of unease creeping over me. I unlocked the screen and froze when I read the new message.
“You deserve better than Zander.”
My heart stuttered in my chest, and suddenly, I was completely awake. There was no room for doubt now-this wasn’t a mistake. Whoever this was, they knew me. They knew Zander.
I sat up in bed, my fingers trembling slightly as I held the phone. My eyes scanned the message over and over, as if doing so would reveal some kind of clue. Was this a joke? A prank? Or something more sinister? My mind raced with possibilities, each one more unsettling than the last.
My first instinct was to block the number, but before I could even decide what to do, the phone buzzed again. The third message sent a strange chill down my spine.
“Your green eyes stole my heart.”
I stared at the screen, my breath catching in my throat. It wasn’t just the words-it was the way they felt so personal, so intimate, like this person had been watching me. My green eyes. My pulse quickened as fear and confusion tangled together in my chest. My hands felt clammy as I gripped the phone tighter.
“Who are you?” I muttered under my breath, though my fingers hesitated to type the question. What if engaging with them made it worse? What if they wanted me to respond?
Before I could act, the final message came through, and it made my blood run cold.
“I can’t wait to see you by coincidence.”
The phone slipped out of my hand, landing on the bed with a soft thud. My heart was pounding now, each beat echoing in my ears. My skin prickled with unease as I stared at the phone like it had just become something dangerous. Someone was watching me. Someone who knew me well enough to make their words feel unnervingly personal.
I couldn’t think straight. Should I tell Zander? My instinct screamed at me to involve him, to let him handle this. But then I thought about how he’d react. Zander wasn’t the type to take things lightly, especially when it came to my safety. He’d demand to know every detail, demand to see the messages, and then his anger would boil over. I could already picture him pacing the room, his possessiveness flaring as he tried to control the situation-and me.
I shook my head, running a hand through my hair. I didn’t have the energy to deal with Zander’s rage tonight. “I’ll figure it out tomorrow,” I whispered to myself, though the words felt hollow.
Lying back down, I pulled the blanket over me again, but the comfort it offered was thin and fleeting. My mind refused to quiet, replaying the messages over and over like a broken record. Who would send something like that? Why? And how did they know so much about me?
I told myself there was probably a reasonable explanation, that it could just be some prank or an overzealous admirer. But the thought did little to calm the knot of anxiety in my stomach. I kept glancing at the phone, half-expecting it to buzz again, half-dreading that it might.
The minutes dragged on, stretching into hours. Every creak of the house, every faint sound from outside made me jump. Sleep became impossible. I lay there in the darkness, my mind trapped in a spiral of fear and uncertainty, wondering who was out there watching me-and what they wanted.