Chapter 166: I’m Late
Knock-knock.
She waited.
Only a second passed before the door opened from the inside.
A middle-aged woman smiled the moment she saw Sophia.
"There you are."
"I’m sorry I’m late."
"You know she’s been waiting."
A flicker of apology crossed Sophia’s face.
"I know."
"I’ll head up immediately."
The woman stepped aside without another word.
Sophia entered.
The door closed behind her.
Just like that...
She was gone again.
Denzel remained where he was, half-hidden in the shadow of another building.
His eyes stayed fixed on the closed door.
’Waiting...?’
’Who’s waiting for her?’
He glanced up at the second floor.
No lights shifted.
No silhouettes appeared by the windows.
The entire building was quiet.
Ordinary.
Which somehow made it even more suspicious.
He exhaled slowly.
’I’ve already come this far.’
If he turned back now...
Everything he’d learned tonight would amount to little more than another mystery.
He crossed the street, keeping his footsteps light.
The building grew larger with each step.
Soon he found himself standing at the bottom of the short staircase.
From this close, the wooden sign beside the entrance was finally visible.
He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the carved lettering beneath the lantern’s soft glow.
Before he could focus—
"You’ve been following her since you entered."
The calm voice came from directly behind him.
Denzel’s entire body tensed.
Every instinct the Knight had drilled into him screamed at once.
Someone had gotten close enough to speak into his blind spot...
And he hadn’t sensed them.
Slowly...
He turned.
Denzel turned.
Nothing.
The space behind him was empty.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
The street stretched quietly in both directions, washed in the pale glow of the lamps. A car passed at the far end of the road, its tires whispering against the asphalt before the sound faded into the night.
No footsteps.
No figure.
No one.
Denzel’s eyes moved slowly across the street.
’...What?’
He hadn’t imagined the voice.
It had been too close.
He could still remember the calmness of it, spoken directly into his blind spot.
"You’ve been following her since you entered."
His jaw tightened.
He turned his head toward the building.
The door was still closed.
Then—
Click.
Denzel’s eyes snapped toward it.
The handle moved.
Someone was coming out.
His body reacted before he consciously decided to move.
One step back.
Then another.
The shadow of the building swallowed him as he slipped around the corner, keeping just enough distance to see the entrance without exposing himself.
The door opened.
The same middle-aged woman stepped outside.
Denzel recognized her immediately.
She was the one who had opened the door for Sophia.
The woman paused on the threshold.
Her eyes moved toward the staircase.
Then across the street.
Nothing.
Her expression tightened slightly.
She stepped outside and looked around.
Denzel remained perfectly still.
He had pressed himself against the side of the building, tucked into the narrow strip of darkness where the light from the entrance couldn’t reach.
The woman looked left.
Then right.
Her gaze lingered on the exact spot where Denzel had been standing only moments earlier.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe any deeper than necessary.
The woman frowned.
"Hmm."
She looked toward the road again.
Still nothing.
After another second, she shook her head.
"Strange."
Denzel watched her from the darkness.
’She heard something.’
Or maybe she had simply noticed that someone had been there.
Either way, he wasn’t about to give her the chance to find out.
The woman stepped back inside.
Before closing the door, she gave the street one last suspicious look.
Then—
Click.
The door shut.
Denzel waited.
One second.
Two.
Five.
He finally released the breath he’d been holding.
His eyes remained on the entrance.
’That was close.’
He looked down at his hands.
They were steady.
Good.
Whatever that voice had been, whoever had spoken it, they had known he was there.
And that bothered him more than the woman noticing him.
Denzel glanced toward the second floor.
Sophia was still inside.
He couldn’t see her.
Couldn’t hear anything.
But now the building felt different.
A few minutes ago, it had looked ordinary.
An old building on a quiet street.
A woman coming home late.
A door.
Nothing worth remembering.
Now every dark window seemed to be hiding something.
Denzel slowly stepped away from the wall.
’I’ve already come this far.’
He could leave.
That would be the sensible thing to do.
Walk back to his car.
Pretend tonight had never happened.
Except—
Sophia had lied to him.
She had come here alone.
She had looked nervous.
And someone inside had apparently been waiting for her.
That wasn’t something he could simply ignore.
Denzel looked at the closed door again.
His expression hardened.
’So what exactly are you hiding, Sophia?’
He moved back toward the entrance.
Not directly.
He crossed the street first, then continued past the building as though he had somewhere else to be.
Only when he reached the next corner did he stop.
He looked back.
The building remained quiet.
No one came out.
No lights changed.
Nothing moved behind the windows.
Denzel narrowed his eyes.
’Fine.’
He turned away.
He wasn’t going to force his way inside.
Not yet.
If someone had noticed him that easily, rushing in would only be stupid.
There had to be another way.
And if Sophia was coming here regularly...
He could wait.
Watch.
Learn.
Then find out what was behind that door without announcing that he was looking.
Denzel slipped his hands into his pockets and started walking.
But after a few steps, he stopped.
The voice came back to him.
Calm.
Close.
Almost amused.
"You’ve been following her since you entered."
Denzel looked over his shoulder.
The street was empty.
His eyes narrowed.
’Who the hell was that?’
Denzel didn’t go far.
He made it to the next street before slowing down.
Then he stopped beneath a dead streetlamp and looked back.
The building was barely visible from here.
Just the upper half of it, rising above the neighboring rooftops.
Still quiet.
Still ordinary.
He stared at it for several seconds.
’If I leave now, I’ll just come back tomorrow.’
And tomorrow, whoever had noticed him tonight might be ready.
He turned around.
Not toward the entrance.
Toward the side of the building.
There had to be another way in.
He walked around the block, keeping to the darker parts of the street. The neighborhood became quieter the farther he went. Most of the shops had already closed, their shutters pulled down over dark windows.
The building’s rear side was different.
No sign.
No lantern.
Just a narrow alley separating it from the next building.
Denzel stepped inside.
His shoes barely made a sound against the uneven pavement.
He looked up.
Three floors.
A few windows.
Most of them dark.
One wasn’t.
Second floor.
A faint yellow light spilled through the curtains.
Denzel stopped beneath it.
’That’s probably where she is.’
He couldn’t see through the curtains.
But he didn’t need to.
He had found something.
He took another step.
Then stopped again.
There was a small metal plate beside the rear entrance.
Denzel crouched.
At first, it looked like nothing more than an old plaque.
Then the moonlight caught the engraving.
He wiped a layer of dust away with his thumb.
Letters slowly emerged.
His eyes narrowed.
A name.
Not a business.
Not an apartment number.
A name.
Denzel read it once.
Then again.
He pulled out his phone.
He took a picture.
The screen briefly illuminated his face before he lowered it again.
’I’ll look into this tomorrow.’
A soft sound came from above.
Denzel froze.
Not a voice.
A window.
He slowly raised his eyes.
The curtain on the second floor had moved.
Only slightly.
Someone was standing behind it.
He couldn’t see their face.
But he could see the outline.
Denzel didn’t move.
Neither did the figure.
For several seconds, they simply watched each other through the distance.
Then the curtain fell shut.
Denzel’s expression changed.
’They saw me.’
He stepped backward.
Not hurriedly.
There was no point running.
If they had seen him, they had seen him.
He turned toward the mouth of the alley.
Then—
"You’re persistent."
Denzel stopped.
His eyes shifted toward the building.
The voice hadn’t come from behind him this time.
It had come from above.
His gaze lifted.
The second-floor window was still closed.
The curtains remained still.
But the voice came again.
"Most people would’ve gone home by now."
Denzel stared at the window.
"Most people aren’t curious."
A quiet pause.
Then—
"Curiosity gets people hurt."
Denzel’s mouth twitched.
"That’s becoming a common theme tonight."
Nothing. He waited. No response came.
Denzel glanced at the window one last time.
"Who are you?" He asked, a hint of tension laced in his voice.
Silence. Then the light went out. His body immediately tensed up and instantly, his eyes flickered from side to side.
"...what." He paused. "He disappeared?"
No. Far worse. He had hidden his aura.