CHAPTER 37: WORRIES, JUMPY NERVES.

After walking away from their very heated conversation, Mira sat curled at one end of the cushion chair in Everett’s sitting room, her knees tucked up to her chest.

She had poured herself a glass of wine to calm her nerves but she wasn’t drinking it. The glass sat on the coffee table in front of her, untouched.

Everett had been leaning against the edge of his desk just watching her.

"I’ve been watching you for the past ten minutes," he said finally. "You’ve not even brought the glass to your lips. What’s wrong?"

She glanced at him briefly, then away. "I’ve been... unable to bring myself to drink it."

"That’s not like you."

Mira’s jaw tensed. "Yeah, well. It’s been a very tiring day."

Everett straightened, taking a few steps closer. "This wouldn’t have anything to do with that little argument I overheard earlier, would it?"

She exhaled slowly, resting her chin on her knees. "You heard that?"

"I wasn’t exactly trying to eavesdrop," he said, "but your voices were kinda loud."

She closed her eyes briefly. "Great. So now you know my two supposed friends are suddenly questioning why they even came here with me."

Everett sank into the armchair opposite her. "They’re getting suspicious, aren’t they?"

Mira’s gaze dropped to the floor. "Yeah. And I’m starting to think they might be piecing things together faster than I’d like."

"Why do you think that is?" Everett asked, tilting his head.

"Because they’re not as stupid as I hoped," she muttered. Then, almost as if catching herself, she added, "I mean, I chose them for a reason. They were... easy to manage. Easier than anyone else in that cage of a school."

Everett cocked his head to the side. "Easy to manage how?"

She let her head fall back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "Liam thinks he’s this strong-willed, unshakable guy, acting like he’s so hard. But all it takes is just a little push from me, the right manipulative words, me standing my ground, and then he folds. It works every time. He’s been like that since we met."

"You two met at Brookside, right?"

"Yup. Since our junior school," she said. "And he’s had this... thing for me since then. He would never admit it out loud, but it’s obvious. I figured it out the day I caught him staring at me. In fact not once or twice. Back then, he couldn’t keep his eyes off me for five seconds. Before I destroyed his feelings.

I can never forget, he tried to ask me out in JHS 3, in front of the whole class. I wonder who gave him the idea that it would be romantic and I would love it. I humiliated him and since then, he has hated me. Or claim to.

At first I thought the feelings were dead, but I tested it again when we became seniors. I asked him to skip a class for me, knowing full well he had a class test in History. He didn’t even hesitate. He would have failed but somehow he managed to convince his teacher he was sick throughout that period.

And that’s how we became close"

Everett did not look surprised. If anything, he folded his hands more tightly. "So you leaned on that, his feelings for you. Emotional blackmail, soft and pretty."

"It’s not flattering to hear it said like that," Mira murmured. "But yes. I used the fact that he likes me. I mean why wouldn’t I?

No matter how hard he tries to look tough, that crush makes him predictable. He believes his feelings are pure and it makes him eager to do small absurd things for me. Even when I talk down to him, treat him like dirt, he still comes back. He does what I ask. It’s pathetic, but it’s also... useful."

"And Raquel?" Everett asked gently, "Where does she fit into your... design?"

She’s just... scared," Mira said with a small shrug. "A scared mouse, always has been. She clings to whoever she feels is the strongest presence in the room, and that’s usually me. She’s loyal and she secretly adores me, as her big cousin. Always very eager to please me. I found that out a long time ago. And since then, it’s made it easier to keep her in line, doing my bidding.

After the scandal back in school was threatening to blow up in our faces, I offered her a way out and she clung to it"

Everett listened, then tipped his head. "You sound as if you’re justifying yourself to me."

Mira’s thumb pressed harder on the rim of the glass. "I’m trying to explain. I know how it looks. I know you were disturbed by what you overheard. I want you to understand why I did it"

Everett studied her for a moment. "So you surround yourself with people you can control."

"I don’t see it that way," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "But yeah, I guess that’s exactly what it is. And now they’re asking too many questions. It’s becoming annoying."

Everett leaned back. "Annoying? Or dangerous?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line. "Both.’

"Well, if you know how you’ve been keeping them in check all these while, you just have to keep doing that." Everett said.

There was a beat of silence.

"You didn’t even plan to run in the first place, did you?" he continued.

She hesitated, then shook her head. "No. At first, it was just about damage control. Yunno, laying low, letting the whole Bella thing blow over. But then... everything started happening at once. I started getting these very threatening messages and I knew it wasn’t from Bella or anyone connected to her, they don’t have the balls to pull that off."

Her voice dropped. "Then that BMW sedan trailing us in New York, twice. The first time was when we drove to my daddy’s house from a friend’s place. Second was on the way to the airport. No attempt to hide it, like they wanted me to know they were really trailing us" She gave a humorless laugh. "It was deliberate."

Everett sat forward slightly. "That’s really serious, Mira."

"You remember the message I showed you the day we got here?" she asked.

"The ’We will keep following you’ one?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Totally anonymous. Sent to my encrypted mail."

Everett’s brow furrowed. "And you have no idea who’s behind it?"

"None," she said, her voice tightening. "Could be someone I’ve wronged in the past, which is even unlikely. Could be someone who just... wants to see me fall. I don’t know. And that’s what’s eating me alive. The fact that I have no clue"

"So you decided to disappear."

"Yeah. I figured if I stayed, it would be a matter of time before... whatever’s coming, caught up with me. So I left, came here to start over.

She leaned back against the sofa cushions, eyes on the ceiling. "But I still have my ID, my passports... That’s my key to my father’s inheritance, there was never a chance I’d give that up."

Everett raised a brow. "And you brought Liam and Raquel with you because...?"

"They were in it with me. Leaving them behind would’ve been cruel," she said after a beat, then smirked faintly. "Plus, they are still very useful to me. This way, I keep them close. Raquel is literally a puppet. Liam stays because... well, he keeps thinking he matters to me. And as long as he thinks that, I can still use him."

Everett sat back, regarding her with an unreadable expression. "You play people like chess pieces."

Her mouth curved. "That’s because they are. And right now, every piece is exactly where I want it."

"You’re protecting yourself," Everett said flatly. "But you’re doing it by putting other people’s entire identities at your disposal. That’s possession, Mira. That’s not protection. And it’s cruel"

"I do know." She exhaled, long and slow. "And that’s why I wanted you to know the truth. You’re the one person I trust enough to tell me that I crossed a line. This is very complicated. I did not want to lie to them forever, Everett. I’ll eventually have to tell them the truth."

He sat back and watched her, folding his hands into his lap. "And the BMW? Whoever tailed you, do you think it’s one of those fired men you mentioned? Or someone else?"

"Those men?" She scoffed. "They wouldn’t dare."

"But I don’t know," she said. "The method of surveillance felt professional. And they had resources too. It wasn’t just petty revenge, it was a direct message. The message isn’t simply that I was being watched. It’s that they wanted to make me realize I wasn’t untouchable."

How many people have you told about this now?

"Just you" she said. "I don’t trust any other person right now. That’s why I needed to come here, to you. At least lay low till I figure it out.

Everett exhaled, "You need extra help Mira."