Hi friends :) This is a double update, so make sure you're reading chapter 28 first! Enjoy

This whole situation with Zayn's father had me on edge, but it's been almost a month since the wedding and nothing.

We haven't heard anything from him since, and I haven't seen him anywhere, either.

That's the thing, though. I put the pieces together and realized that he's been following me.

How many times did I see him and didn't realize it was him? And why is he following me? Why not his sons? How does he even know who I am?

I just have so many questions and no solid answers. Even Zayn can't seem to figure out why I'm the one he's "targeting" of all people.

Is he trying to fuck with Zayn? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe it wasn't even his father, and we simply jumped to conclusions. That makes me feel even sicker, though, because that means I have some crazy stalker.

All I know is Zayn isn't taking this very well. He practically begged me to send him my location through Find My Friends, so he knows if I get "carted away to Canada."

Zayn tried to get a hold of his father, but he couldn't find him. He can't even get the name of his father's parole officer—something about confidentiality and his father not wanting his sons to know anything about his release.

Needless to say, Zayn's pissed.

He doesn't have time to be pissed, not with his new job. He's been swamped, working hard to ensure his name as an official attorney isn't tarnished with bad case outcomes.

I'm so proud of him. He works so hard, and he cares so much. He deserves every ounce of success possible. The thought of his father taking that away from him with distractions and taunting really pisses me off.

I know I should be scared, paranoid even, but all I can think about is how angry it makes me that his father has the audacity to fuck with Zayn's life more than he already has.

My phone buzzes on my desk, distracting me from my work.

You get to work safely?

My heart flutters. I smile to myself, trying not to alert my nosy coworkers to my joy.

Yes. How's your case going?

I turn back to my computer, trying to focus on the manuscripts I'm supposed to be editing.

Zayn doesn't let me focus for long. My phone dings three more times.

Slowly.

I wish you were here.

Dinner? Tonight.

Sure. Seven?

I'll pick you up. Stay the night?

Sounds good :)

The rest of the day, I'm basically itching to get out of here. I do love my job, so I'm not complaining, but I want to be relaxing with Z.

By the time I finish reading my final manuscript, it's nearly five PM. I have to report to Natalie before I can go home.

I knock on her office door, waiting for her usual "come in" before pulling the door open.

"Hey! Did you finish up?" She asks, smiling brightly as she removes her feet from her desk.

I nod, sitting in the chair in front of her desk. "Yep! We have a lot of promising work coming in, but this was my favorite."

We go through each manuscript, besides the ones that I deemed unworthy.

Once we finish up, it's been forty-five minutes. We got a bit passionate about some of them, something I've always loved about working with Natalie.

She's always interested in my opinion and comments rather than the logistics. Plus, we agree on almost everything.

"So, why're you so antsy?" Natalie asks, smirking.

I look up, eyes wide. "Hm? I'm not,"

She laughs. "What is it? Hot date?"

"Yeah," I answer honestly. "with my boyfriend."

"Aw, well, why didn't you tell me? Get out of here! Go enjoy your night." She says with glee, practically shooing me out the door.

"Thanks, Natalie. I'll see you tomorrow!" I get up and pack up my desk, saying goodbye to my coworkers before heading out.

I shuffle through my bag for my keys, distractedly making my way through the parking lot and to my car.

I find my keys and unlock the door, getting into the driver's seat. I'm about to drive off when I see something on my dashboard.

I quickly get out and take the card off my dash, throwing it into the passenger seat and driving off.

I've seen far too many articles of women getting attacked while they investigate whatever it is that's on their car. I'm not taking that chance.

I speed home, my anxiety forcing me into checking the mirrors every two seconds to ensure no one is following me.

Once I get home, I grab my stuff and race into my apartment. Jordyn is sitting at the counter eating crackers when I enter.

I throw the card on the counter and stare at it, my stomach feeling queasy.

"What's that?" Jor asks, crumbs falling from my mouth.

"I don't know. It was on my windshield."

Jordyn frowns, wiping the crumbs from her hands and picking it up. "Are you gonna open it?"

I bite my lip nervously. "I feel like I should."

We stare at each other and the card in Jor's hands before I finally pluck it from her and rip it open.

It's a greeting card with balloons and confetti on the cover saying "Congratulations" in thick white cursive letters.

I open the card and see the typical two-sentence message inside, but the scribbled initials underneath it are what scares me.

- C.M

Carlos Miller.

"Fuck," I say, tossing the card away as if it's on fire.

Jordyn looks at me with worry as she rushes over to read the card herself. "Who's CM?"

"Zayn's father. Carlos Miller," I answer, pinching the inside of my wrist.

Jordyn drops the card, rushing over to me. "Shit. I hoped it wasn't true."

"That he's stalking me? Yeah, me too. Shit. Zayn's probably on his way. I need to get ready."

Jordyn is silent for a minute, making me worried as she reexamines the card. "Scar," she says, her face pale.

"What?" I ask. No answer. Her eyes just stay zoned in on the card. "What is it, Jor?"

I rip the card from her hand and stare at it. I don't see anything.

"Look at the message. There are random letters underlined." Jor explains.

I look closely, squinting a little. My heart practically drops into my ass as I realize she's right.

The letters 'I,' 'C,' and 'U' are underlined. I don't know how the hell I missed that before.

"Shit. This is very, very not good. Zayn is going to lose his shit."

"Hell, I'm losing my shit! This is scary shit, Scar. You don't think he'd come here, do you?"

My stomach feels sick. I feel like there's a brick in my throat. "I- I don't know. No one followed me here, I think."

I rush to my room and change out of my work clothes and into jeans and an oversized tee. Jordyn follows me, practically devouring her bottom lip.

Neither of us says anything. We just stand together in silence, worry eating away at us.

We walk back into the kitchen, and Jordyn finds more food to munch on. She's a stress eater.

"Maybe he's just trying to mess with you. Like, make you scared and paranoid and shit." She says while shoveling down another piece of cheese.

"But why? How does he even know who I am? None of this makes any sense."

Before Jordyn can shout out more theories, there's a knock at the door.

I jump from my seat and rush to answer. Zayn's waiting patiently, smiling wide as I open the door.

Instead of welcoming him and letting him in, I just wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly.

He's shocked at first but eventually hugs me back, squeezing me tightly. "What's wrong, baby?" He whispers.

He rubs my back soothingly. God, I don't want to tell him. I don't want to ruin his day.

We pull apart, and I take his hand, bringing him inside and closing the door. "I have to tell you something."

Jordyn and Zayn exchange pleasantries, but I can tell Zayn is anxiously waiting for me to explain.

I grab the card and hand it to him. My hands shake as he takes it from me. "You're shaking, Scar."

"Just read it,"

He sighs, looking down at the card and analyzing it. As soon as he looks at it, his face falls, but his eyes are full of rage when he opens it.

"Fuck."

"That's exactly what Scar said," Jordyn pipes in, eavesdropping from the couch with a bowl of popcorn in hand.

"He underlined the letters I, C, and U. So what, he's officially stalking me now?"

"Where did you find this? Was he here?" Zayn asks, checking the locks on my door.

"No. It was on my windshield when I got out of work."

Zayn's eyes widen. "He was at your office?"

"I guess. I didn't see anyone, and as far as I know, no one followed me back here." I shrug.

Zayn pulls at his hair anxiously. "Fuck."

We go silent for a while, the only sound coming from Jordyn's chewing.

"What does this mean, Z? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but I don't think you should stay here. At least not alone."

"I agree, Scar. I can stay with Riley," Jordyn says.

My heart drops. "You think he's going to hurt me?"

Zayn clenches his jaw, looking extremely pissed off. "I don't know, but I'm not taking the chance that he will."

"Do we go to the cops? What do we do?"

"For now, you're staying with me," he says shortly, grabbing the card and rereading it over and over. "As for the cops, I don't think there's anything they can do with a simple card. They'll probably say it's nothing. I'll try to get ahold of his PO and give the card to the station on our way to mine."

God, this is not how I thought my day would be going.

"Okay. Let me pack a bag, and we can get the hell out of here." Jor and I rush out of the kitchen and into our rooms, packing our bags quickly.

"Baby," Zayn says quietly, slowly walking into my room. "I'm so sorry." His voice is soft and fragile.

I whip around to face him. "Stop it, Z. This is not your fault. At all. So stop, okay?"

He nods but looks down, avoiding my gaze. My heart cracks slightly at the guilt overtaking his features. I rush to him, putting my hands on either side of his face so he'll look at me.

"We'll be fine, baby. I'm fine. Besides, we get to play house for a couple of days." I say, giving him a genuine smile.

Sure, the situation is shitty, but I can't deny that I'm excited to be spending more time with him.

Zayn smirks, pulling me closer by my waist. "I like when you call me baby."

"Oh?" I ask flirtatiously. "Then I guess I'll have to say it more, baby."

I pull his face down to mine and kiss him softly, his tongue immediately swiping my bottom lip and invading my mouth.

The kiss is hungry but passionate, making my entire body ignite with tingles. When we pull apart, Zayn's lips are pink and swollen, his eyes hazy with lust.

"Now help me pack," I demand, pulling him forward. He groans but complies anyway.

I'm surprisingly calm, considering what has happened in the last thirty minutes. I went from assuming I'd imagined the whole Carlos situation to being forced out of my own apartment in a matter of minutes, and yet all I can think about is jumping Zayn's bones as soon as we get to his apartment.

Safe to say, I'm losing it a little bit.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fucking terrified of Zayn's father, but I can't let myself think of it, or I'll have a damn panic attack.

Zayn grabs my medication from my nightstand and ticks it into my front pocket.

"Ready?" He asks softly.

"Yep," I grab my work bag and hall out of the room. "If I forgot anything, I can just come back and grab it."

I grab my keys, and Zayn takes my bag for me, taking it down to his car. I agree to follow him, but we wait for Riley to pick up Jordyn before locking up the apartment and heading to Zayn's.

Maybe Carlos is all talk. Maybe he's just trying to fuck with me. With Zayn. I still can't figure out how a criminal on parole could track down his son's girlfriend and stalk her without his PO noticing.

Plus, who knows who else he's messing with. He could be watching Talia and Rocky, too.

But why? Does he want to go back to jail? Does he have a death wish? I simply can't figure this out, and the more I try to understand the man's motives, the more scared I get.

God. This is bad. Really, really bad.