Page 2 of Claiming Veronica

“Come on,” I whispered, my fingers moving faster, my heart pounding in time with the keystrokes. “Just a little more…”

Me:Who is this?

I tried to take a breath, my lungs burning with the effort. There was no reply for what felt like an eternity. Then, slowly, the cursor began to move again.

The words sent a trilling of excitement through me. My fingers shook as I settled them on the keys, but I forced myself to respond, my mind racing through every possible scenario.

Unknown:Someone who’s closer than you think.

My heart skipped a beat. I’d never been this close to him before, never felt the weight of his presence so acutely. It was as if he were in the room with me, watching my every move.

I didn’t know what possessed me, but I typed the next words with a strange mixture of defiance and fear.

Me:I’m not afraid of you.

The reply was almost instant.

Unknown:You should be.

Shit, shit, shit. The chat window disappeared as I frantically tried to reinitiate the trace to no effect, but the words lingered in the air, heavy and foreboding.

I sat back in my chair, my mind reeling. I had a choice to make. I could pull back, listen to Reedand Arabella’s warnings, and retreat into the safety of my world behind the screen. Or I could push forward, dive deeper into the darkness that surrounded Eli, and find out what he was hiding. There was no way this wasn’t connected to him. Nobody would convince me that it wasn’t. It had to be. Woah … I scooted my chair back for a minute and took a heaving breath.

What if?

What if … this was Eli? Was that possible?

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, my decision already made. I was in this now, too deep to turn back. There was something there. I had to go down the rabbit hole now. This person had shown that I was on to something. I wasn’t about to fold.

I began typing again, my resolve hardening with every keystroke. The game had changed, and so had the stakes. But I had never been one to shy away from danger. Not when it had a name and a face that haunted my every thought.

The hunt was on.

Arabella:Wtf our chat glitched. Did it do that for everybody?

Reed:What happened?

Me:It was nothing.

Calia:That was NOT nothing bitch. You need to cool your jets.

Me:I accidentally tripped something. It bugged out the chat.

I rationalized later when I stared at the meticulously arranged glow-in-the-dark star stickers on my ceiling that the girls didn’t need to know. That’s the only reason I lied.

Chapter 2

Veronica

Fatigue set in as I pulled the feed from the cameras. My heart pounded harder than it should have. Even after the fiasco a few months ago with Victor breaking in — twice, my setup was decent. I’d worked hard to revamp it and improve it. I thought I’d had all corners of the property covered, but every time I thought I had it managed, Eli always seemed to find the spots he could sneak in. Or maybe he just knew exactly where to stand to taunt me. He’d proven before that he was a competent hacker, too. I shouldn’t underestimate him, I reminded myself.

The footage played out in front of me, showing the slider door in my basement. The first gifts were small river rocks and flowers, always by the doorway. I was glued to the screen almost twenty-four hours a day, watching. There was a flash of movement in the corner, just out of focus. My breath caught in my throat as I paused the video, leaning closer.

Eli

My fingers tightened on the edge of the desk. He was doing it on purpose, just enough to let me know he was there but never enough for me to catch him outright. A game. And damn it, I hated games. This pulled me in and kept me on the edge of my seat for some reason. I wasn’t sure if I was flattered, intrigued, or both.

I pushed back from the desk so hard that the chair skittered on its casters and hit the far wall. Glancing at the door into the darkness, I could see that the flower petals led away from the house, delicately set against the darker gravel. What the hell? This was the first time he’d done that. Most of the time, he put his presents on the patio pavers so I could reach them.