Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 188

Chapter 188

DAPHNE’S POV

C

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The grocery store was one of those errands I kept putting off until the refrigerator made the decision for me.

By evening, the options had narrowed to a sad heel of bread, two eggs, and something in a container I didn’t want to investigate too closely. So I went.

It was the kind of trip that required no real thought.

I moved through the aisles on autopilot, tossing things in the basket without much deliberation, checking my phone once to see if Lois had added anything to the list she claimed she was going to send and hadn’t.

I got her oat milk anyway because we were always out of it and she always acted surprised when we were.

By the time I pushed through the exit, bags in both hands, I was already thinking about what I was going to eat when I got home and whether I had the energy to actually cook it or whether cereal was going to win the night.

The evening air hit me when the doors slid open, cool and carrying that particular smell of city after a dry day.

The grocery bag was beginning to give way at the bottom, the damp condensation from a carton of milk softening the brown paper.

I shifted my grip, hitching the bundle higher against my chest as I navigated the sidewalk.

I was so preoccupied with getting home that I didn’t see him until I walked straight into his chest.

The impact wasn’t hard, but it was enough to make the groceries shift dangerously.

I started an automatic apology, my head down, my fingers digging into the paper to keep a stray orange from rolling into the gutter.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t-”

I looked up. The words died in my throat, replaced by a cold, dry vacuum in my lungs.

Kyle.

He was standing there as if he’d been waiting for me to walk right into him. He looked exactly the same, yet entirely different through the lens of everything that had happened.

His coat was expensive, his hair perfectly styled, but his eyes had that same piercing intensity that used to make me feel seen, and now only made me feel hunted.

The panic didn’t arrive with a bang; it was more like a sudden drain, leaving me hollow and light-headed.

My first instinct was animalistic-get away. Move. Run.

12:07 Thu, Mar 26

Chapter 188

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I took a stumbling step backward, the grocery bag slipping an inch. I didn’t care about the milk or the eggs. I just needed to put distance between us.

I turned to bolt toward the alleyway, but he was faster.

His hand clamped around my upper arm, his fingers firm and unyielding. It wasn’t a violent grab, but it was absolute. It pinned me to the spot, dragging my momentum to a dead halt.

“Are you stalking me Kyle?” I demanded, my voice coming out more breathless than I wanted.

“First the coffee shop, now here? How did you even know I was at this store?” I lifted a brow, watching him carefully.

There was no way this was just coincidence. Running into the same person twice in two weeks might be chance, but this? This felt different. Too convenient. Too intentional.

He really could be stalking me. A knot of unease tightened in my stomach as the thought crept in.

“You had company last time,” he highlighted. His voice wasn’t loud, but it had that low, possessive edge that used to make me shiver for all the wrong reasons.

He didn’t answer my question about stalking. He didn’t care about the logistics. He stepped into my space, forcing me to look up at him.

“Who was he, Daphne?”

I blinked, my heart hammering a frantic, uneven beat against my ribs.

“What are you talking about?”

“The man at the coffee shop,” he snapped, his grip tightening just a fraction-not enough to bruise, but enough to show he wasn’t letting go.

His eyes searched mine, dark and demanding.

“The one who thought he could put his hands on what belongs to me. Your boss? Your lover? Tell me who he is.”

“He’s my employer, Kyle! And he didn’t ‘put his hands’ on anything,” I snapped, a spark of anger finally cutting through the terror.

“He was protecting me from you. Now let go of my arm.”

Kyle scoffed, a dry, humorless sound. He leaned in closer, his shadow swallowing me.

“You think he can protect you? You think a suit and a title change the fact that you’re mine? I saw the way he looked at you. And I saw the way you hid behind him.”

“I’m not yours,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I haven’t been yours for a long time. Please, just leave me alone.”

12:07 Thu, Mar 26

Chapter 188

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He studied me for a long beat, his gaze lingering on my mouth before moving back to my eyes. possessiveness in his expression was stifling.

“I’m not going anywhere until I’m satisfied, Daphne. And right now, I’m very far from satisfied.”

“Kyle, please let me go.” I pushed against him again, trying to pull free.

“You don’t hold that kind of place in my life to ask me those questions.”

The

I kept my eyes turned away from him, refusing to meet his gaze. The memories of that night surged back without warning, crowding my mind and making my chest tighten.

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he released his grip. The skin where he’d held me felt strangely hot.

He didn’t move away; he just stood there, watching me like I was a puzzle he intended to solve by force.

“Go home,” he said, his tone dropping into something dangerously quiet. “But don’t think for a second that he’s going to save you from me. We aren’t done.”

I didn’t wait for him to say another word. I gripped my groceries so hard the paper tore at the top, and I spun around, walking as fast as my legs would carry me.

I didn’t look back. I turned corners at random, weaving through the afternoon foot traffic until my lungs. burned and my arms ached.

By the time I got home, I’d talked myself down enough that my hands had stopped being unsteady. The walk had helped. The distance helped.

I was almost functional by the time I reached our building, almost back to the version of myself that had gone out for groceries and was simply returning from a normal errand on a normal evening.

I climbed the stairs two at a time, my ears straining for the sound of his voice.”

I reached my door, fumbled with the deadbolt, and practically fell inside. I kicked the door shut and leaned my back against it, the wood solid and cool against my spine.

I let out a long, shuddering breath, my eyes closed.

The living room was empty, television off. I set the bags on the kitchen counter and noticed the quiet, which had a different texture than the regular quiet of an apartment when someone’s home.

Then, I heard a sound coming from the back of the unit. A muffled, repetitive sound. Choked gasps and the unmistakable hitch of someone who had been crying for a long time,

“Lois?” I called out, my voice still shaky.

I got no answer. Just the sound of someone struggling to catch their breath.

I hurried down the short hallway to the bedroom. The door was cracked open. I pushed it the rest of the way and stopped dead.

12:07 Thu, Mar 26

Chapter 188

The room was a disaster.

Usually, Lois was the neat one. She was the one who color-coded her closet.

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Now, the bed was barely visible under a forest of fabric. Sweaters, dresses, and jeans were strewn across the mattress in a messy, desperate heap.

Her large suitcase sat open in the center of the bed like a gaping mouth, half-filled with tangled clothes as if they’d been thrown in with no thought.

Lois was sitting on the edge of the bed, her knees pulled to her chest, surrounded by the wreckage of her wardrobe.

Her face was buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with every sob.

“Lois?” I rushed over to her, dropping to my knees. The room felt heavy with her distress, the air thick with the scent of her perfume and salt. I reached up, gently pulling her hands away from her face.

Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, her skin blotchy. She looked like she’d been pulled apart and put back together wrong.

When she saw me, her face crumpled again, and she let out a fresh, broken sound of despair.

“Lois, talk to me,” I whispered, my own heart beginning to race all over again. “What happened?”

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