Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 36

Zack looked up, a painful, strained smile stretching across his face. "Willa, what if I told you... I don't care if I get dragged into it?"

"Actually... I'm not sure... I..."

Willa frowned slightly.

She couldn't accept Zack's true feelings, and she certainly couldn't reciprocate them.

But she had no idea how to let him down gently.

Suddenly, the deafening screech of a power drill shattered the moment, cutting Zack off.

She seized the excuse to change the subject. "I'll go see what that is."

Zack followed closely behind her. "Is the house next door being renovated? Isn't that going to be way too loud? Willa, maybe you should find somewhere else to live."

Willa was baffled too. She distinctly remembered that the last time she was here, the neighboring house had been completely abandoned.

Did someone buy it that fast?

"It's fine. As long as they stop at night, I can deal with it." She brushed off his concern, though she couldn't stop herself from walking over to the courtyard wall and standing on her tiptoes to peek over.

Several obscenely expensive bonsai trees were arranged in the corner of the neighboring courtyard, their sheer luxury completely clashing with the run-down aesthetic of the alleyway.

A crew of workers was hauling in pieces of custom, ultra-high-end furniture.

But what really set her on edge was a worker on a ladder installing a dome security camera directly on the outer wall, angled right into her private courtyard.

Zack noticed it too, his face darkening. "Willa, isn't that camera pointing straight into your yard?"

"I'm going to ask." He marched over to the neighbor's gate and raised his voice. "Hey! Excuse me, what's the deal with putting a camera right there?"

The worker turned, looking utterly unbothered. "Security. What about it?"

"Security?" Zack's temper flared. "You put up security facing someone else's property? That's an invasion of privacy!"

Willa stared at her phone, stunned. The voice sounded strangely familiar, but she didn't have the mental energy to dwell on it.

A minute later, the worker's phone rang, and the camera was promptly moved to a different spot.

With the issue resolved, Willa paid no further attention to the commotion next door.

After an exhausting afternoon, nearly everything was finally unpacked and put in its place.

Zack still looked anxious. "Willa, maybe you really shouldn't stay here. I've got a really bad feeling about this new neighbor."

"Why?" Willa replied. "He told them to move the camera the second I asked. He seems perfectly reasonable."

Hearing this, Zack finally dropped the subject. He made her promise to call him if anything happened and warned her against getting into arguments by herself, saying she'd end up getting hurt.

Willa laughed and told him he was being a total worrywart.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and Zack's paranoia was proven right that very night.