The Brightest Stars ✨

Chapter 3

"I don't know if I'm being paranoid or if this is genuinely happening, but I'm being followed," Natalia rushed out when Gabe opened the door from her panicked knocking. When she said it out loud, she sounded paranoid as hell.

But it had taken her a few days to reach that conclusion. There was this one black car that had been following her for days, the driver obscured by tinted windows. The car had shown up when she was on her way to work, she'd see it going to the supermarket or coming back home and even meeting up with Porsha for drinks or yoga.

First she thought she was going mad, then she kept noticing the same type of car and plates and started changing her routes. She had read that in a spy book once and she hoped it worked.

Natalia took longer drives and more turns but the car still followed her. It made her feel uneasy with worry and today, when she saw that same car parked outside the house, it heightened her fears. She thanked all her lucky stars that Gabe was home before her since that was rarely the case.

Gabe gawked at her, his brow furrowing and his forehead wrinkling. She could see the cogs turn in his mind as his eyes furiously looked behind her shoulder, out onto the street and then pulled her inside the house.

"Are they still there?"

So she wasn't crazy? It was nice not to be dismissed straight off the bat as she had done to herself.

"Yeah it's the dark saloon parked opposite the house. I noticed a couple of days ago and I know I should have told you, but I thought I was being paranoid."

"Wait here and lock the door."

Natalia watched from the living room window as Gabe's tall gait quickly ate the distance between the house and the parked car.

To the casual viewer he looked like he was cheerily giving someone directions but the exchange was tense. She could tell by how taut his back muscles were, bowed like a spring and just waiting for the right trigger to go off. She had never seen Gabe like this, he was always so relaxed and easy going with a lot of patience for people and quick to let grudges go.

The car drove away, the tires squeaking and driving in zigzagged lines moments later. Gabe stood in the street watching the dust settle before he made a phone call.

"Tell me everything you've noticed," he led her into the kitchen, helping her out of her jacket as she toed-off her shoes in the hallway and stashed her work bag on the floor.

He turned the kettle on. It made her smile in the midst of her panic, there was nothing like a cup of tea to settle your harrowed nerves after a long day of squabbling with mini-adults and dodging black saloon cars that were trying to follow you.

"This one black car has been following me to school and back. I've even tried taking a different route home and it's still following me."

"Anything else you've noticed?"

"No, what did you find out?"

"Not much he claims to be waiting for a friend, you'll ride with me until we can get to the bottom of this."

"Okay," Natalia agreed easily, she had never felt this spooked about anything. "What's for dinner?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Chicken breast and — "

Natalia wrinkled her nose.

"Chinese...we're having Chinese for dinner," Gabe corrected quickly to accommodate her request, pulling up the food delivery app on his phone.

"Thank you, you take such good care of me."
Gabe's arms came around her. Inhaling his familiar scent and feeling the strength of his muscled body against her, she felt safe and taken care of. Gabe would go to extreme lengths to protect his loved ones, she wouldn't insult him by worrying more than she had to.