Page 110 of Mine To Hunt

And then I notice him. Al is still there. Standing alone in the middle of the room. My thumb stops moving. He is staring straight at the camera. Not smiling. Not moving. Just staring.

My stomach tightens. The look on his face is strange. Not angry or confused or curious. Just blank. Like he knows it is there. Like he knows someone will watch. I swallow slowly and replay the clip. He does not move even once.

A second later, in the video, I walk back in with the food, and instantly he smiles and acts normal again.

"That’s… weird." I whisper to myself.

Maybe I am overthinking. Maybe he just noticed the camera. Still, something about that expression makes my chest feel tight.

I shake the feeling off and push myself up from the couch, telling myself I am overthinking, that it was just a strange angle or a trick of light.

With my phone still in my hand, I start walking toward my bedroom, absentmindedly keeping the live feed open as it shows the same view the camera sees, the back of me moving downthe short hallway, the dim light stretching my shadow along the floor.

For a few seconds, everything looks normal. Then something shifts on the screen. At first my mind does not register what I am seeing. It is just movement.

Subtle. Quiet. Almost blending into the background.

But it is not me. Someone is stepping into the frame behind me. My breath catches.

I slow down without meaning to, eyes locking onto the tiny screen as the figure becomes clearer with each step it takes. My heart lurches violently against my ribs.

I spin around. The masked man stands in my doorway. The world seems to snap silent all at once, like someone has cut the sound out of reality.

My body locks in place before my mind can react, every muscle stiff, every thought scattering. I cannot breathe. I cannot speak.

Cold fear floods through me, sharp and sudden, and with it comes the memory of the night crashing back so hard it leaves me frozen where I stand.

Chapter 34

Her

The air feels thick with tension, and every small sound seems amplified. His presence fills the space, making everything else fade into the background. Fear grips me instantly, but it's mixed with something else, something I can't quite name.

He doesn’t move at first. He just stands there, watching me through that mask as if the silence itself belongs to him. The room feels unnaturally still, like even the air has slowed down. I can hear my own breathing, uneven and sharp in the quiet.

After a long beat he finally speaks. "Are you going to scream this time?"

His voice is low, steady, almost casual. It makes the moment more unsettling, not less.

I swallow hard, forcing my lungs to work properly. My thoughts scatter in every direction, but I gather them quickly, refusing to let him see panic take control.

"Do I have any reason to?" The calm in my voice surprises even me.

He tilts his head slightly, as if evaluating not just my words but my tone. "You complicate things for me."

The statement lingers in the air. I take a cautious step toward him, drawn by something I don’t fully understand. Fear twists inside me, but curiosity pushes harder. I need to understand what he is.

He lifts his hand. "Stop."

My body freezes instantly. The reaction is automatic, humiliatingly so. For a second I hate that I listened without thinking.

Then I move again, slower this time. The distance between us narrows. His gaze shifts briefly to the corner of the room, to the small red light blinking on the camera. I follow his line of sight.

"I installed security cameras." I say quietly.

He nods once. "I watched."

The words settle under my skin. "You watched through the cameras?"