Chapter Three: Protection or Possession

As she just closed her eyes to sleep. The knock came just after midnight.

Amara sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. The rain had returned, tapping insistently against her window, and now someone was at her door. She pulled on a sweater, quietly crept through the hallway, and hesitated at the door. No one should be visiting her this late.

Then came the voice. Deep. Calm. Familiar.

“Amara. It’s me. Open the door.” he knocks on the door

"Luca" her voice came out as a whisper

Her fingers trembled on the handle. Part of her screamed to run, to hide, to call the police. But she didn’t. Slowly, cautiously, she opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" i asked

He stood there, soaked to the bone, wearing a black coat and gloves. The streetlight behind him cast him in a ghostly glow. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were fierce.

“You’re not safe here,” he said simply.

“what you mean and above all I don’t even know who you are,” she whispered.

“I know,” he replied, stepping inside without waiting for permission. “That’s my fault.” but........

She backed away, arms crossed protectively over her chest. “You left a rose in my kitchen. You’ve been following me. Watching me. That’s not protection, Luca. That’s stalking.”

He nodded once, a flicker of guilt crossing his features. “You’re right. But I didn’t do it to scare you. I did it to keep you alive.”

“Alive? What you mean”

“There are people who saw what happened that night. People who noticed you talking to me. They think you matter to me.”

“Do I?”

Silence stretched between them like a wire pulled too tight. Then—“Yes.”

Her breath caught. She didn’t know what to say, what to feel. It should have been a red flag. A man she barely knew claiming she mattered to him. But the way he said it—like it scared him to admit it—made her feel like the world tilted sideways.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe,” he said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”she took a step back

“You don’t have a choice.”

She tried to push past him, but he blocked the door.

“I’ve already pulled you into this. If you stay here, they will find you. And I won’t be able to stop them in time.”

The air was thick with tension, her heart thudding in her chest loudly. Finally after a long pause, she asked, “Who are you, Luca?”

He looked at her for a long time. Then, softly, he said, “A man trying not to be a monster.”

Something in her chest cracked.

Without another word, she grabbed her bag and put her important things and followed him into the night.

she walk towards his parked car and gets in the passenger seat while he gets in and starts the car driving far from her home.

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