Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 79

The next day, Willa went to work as usual.

When her shift ended, she deliberately stalled in the office lobby until the commuter rush thinned out, then strolled casually toward the bus stop.

She stood by the curb, pretending to be engrossed in her phone, while her peripheral vision swept the street.

It didn't take long.

The man with the baseball cap and black jacket was lurking behind a telephone pole half a block away.

Willa's heart kicked into overdrive, but she kept her face carefully blank.

When her bus arrived, she boarded. The man shadowed her inside.

She feigned ignorance, scrolling mindlessly on her phone.

A few stops later, she got off in the West Side district—a dilapidated, quiet neighborhood lined with decaying apartment buildings.

She ducked into a narrow alley and picked up her pace. The heavy footsteps trailing her instantly matched her speed.

Willa's heart was practically in her throat.

Her phone buzzed loudly in her palm. It was a text from Sophie.

[Here.]

Willa stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned around.

The stalker froze, immediately pivoting to walk back toward the main street.

Terrified he would vanish, Willa lunged forward. The second her fingers clamped around his jacket sleeve, the man violently spun around.

In that split second, she finally saw his face.

He was around thirty, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, looking entirely ordinary, like an average office worker.

Willa momentarily froze.

The man was equally stunned, clearly not expecting his prey to go on the offensive.

"What's your problem?" he demanded, his voice steady but annoyed.

"You're stalking me," she stated.

The man's brow furrowed in irritation. He yanked his arm back. "Lady, you've got the wrong guy."

He turned to leave.

Willa gritted her teeth, lunged forward, and grabbed his arm again.

"Don't move! You've been following me for days, from my office all the way out here. What the hell do you want?"

The man stopped and glared at her. "Let go."

Sophie blinked, momentarily caught off guard.

Legally, he was right. Without proof of intent to harm, trailing someone was barely a misdemeanor. The police would hold him for a night and kick him back onto the street by morning.

Willa stared at the man, her mind racing.

He was way too calm. An amateur stalker would be hysterical right now, but he was incredibly composed.

"Did Scarlett Sterling send you?" she asked sharply.

The man's eyes didn't even flicker. "I have no idea who that is."

Sophie scoffed loudly. "Sure, keep playing dumb."

No matter how hard they pressed him, the man stuck to his story: he thought Willa was pretty and wanted to ask her out.

Wyatt hauled the man up by his collar and looked at Willa. "What's the play, Ms. Vance?"

"Let him go," Willa said quietly.

Sophie whipped her head around in shock. "What?"

"I said, let him go," Willa repeated.

"We finally caught the creep, and you're just going to let him walk?" Sophie demanded, outrage bleeding into her voice.