The sender was Daniel.

I tapped the screen to open the message.

My breath hitched in my throat as I read the words.

“I know you were at the coffee shop,” the message read.

I froze, the glass of water slipping slightly in my hand.

The phone buzzed again.

Another message appeared right below the first.

“And I know what you took.”

I looked toward the dark window of my apartment, my heart suddenly racing.

The headlights of a car turned into the parking lot below, sweeping across my ceiling.

I stepped back into the shadows of the kitchen, keeping my eyes fixed on the window.

The phone buzzed a third time.

“We need to talk, Emily. Before things get out of hand for both of us.”

The door to the apartment building lobby downstairs clicked open.

I heard the heavy, slow footsteps on the stairs.

They were coming up.

I held my breath, my finger hovering over the emergency call button on my screen.

The footsteps stopped right outside my door.

A shadow cut off the light leaking from the hallway under the doorframe.