Danielle’s POV
*****
It’s been a week since my last encounter with Anzari.
After that crazy night where he fucked me senseless in a literal alleyway—not to mention taking me home right after—I haven’t seen him since.
I knew so damn well that he’s the one who took me home because I questioned Kimberley if she did.
She got worried that I got drugged and asked if I hooked up with someone.
Obviously, I pleaded the fifth.
Each night had given me more reason to accept this was all real.
That somehow my pet spider could transform into a terribly hot man at night.
So his sudden absence this past week after all that… got me worried.
Was it because I kissed him?
Was I too emotional with him?
For fuck’s sake there was nothing weird happening with Bobby either.
I thought about all this while lazily getting out of bed.
It was past eight AM already and I had to check on Vesper Nails.
“Good morning, Bobby.” I found myself saying, stretching once before walking toward the terrarium.
“Or should I say… Anzari?”
The silence that answered me was so loud I thought crickets would start chirring any second.
Bobby was up to his usual routine—doing absolutely nothing other than clinging to his favourite stick.
I exhaled through my mouth.
“Come on,” I squatted, squinting hard at the damn spider.
“I know it’s you in there. Why have you been ignoring me?”
Silence.
“You’re making me think I did something wrong.”
Silence.
“Ugh, you’ve gotta give me something at least. Anything to make me know I’ve not completely lost my mind.”
You guessed right.
Fucking silence.
I withheld the urge to claw out my own hair.
This was pointless.
Just when I straightened and prepared to take off my pajamas, my phone rang from the bedside stand.
I frowned, head swerving to its direction.
I had a feeling I knew who that was somehow.
I strode to it anyway, picking it up.
And immediately regretted why I didn’t just ignore it.
Simon.
“What the hell do you want?” I didn’t waste a second on pleasantries, folding my other arm across my chest.
He grunted.
“Not even a good morning, Danielle?”
“You’re lucky I picked at all.”
“Fair.” He sighed.
“Danielle, you can’t keep this up. These past few days—”
“I’ve been telling you the same shit for the past week and I hate fucking repeating myself.” Great.
I was cursing a lot.
Clear sign this bastard was getting on my last nerves.
“I can’t and won’t see you, Simon. Other than our son we’ve got zero business and you still get to see him on weekends anyway.”
There was a pause from the other end.
One long enough for me to consider just hanging up.
“When did you become this… cold?” He finally asked, making me arch a brow.
“My house burned down, Danielle. The least you could give me is some sympathy.”
I blinked.
“Bitch,” I held back a dry laugh.
“If you’re searching for sympathy go ask your momma or heck, your girlfriend. Shit, Simon, don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“I—”
“Bye!”
I hung up before he could say anything else.
Phew.
What a way to jinx a day before it’s even started.
★★★★★
The moment I walked into Vesper Nail Studio, a small, genuine smile curved the corner of my lips.
Not because I was a fan of work or anything—hell, no.
But because after a week there was clearly a change here.
A positive one.
I noticed a lot of new faces being attended to by my girls.
One customer I’ve never seen before was even complimenting the place and mentioning how she can’t wait to tell her friends.
“Danielle!” Whitney’s voice made me turn.
She came running in my direction, her face lit up with an excited grin.
“Have you seen how many likes that video has gotten on TikTok this morning?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“The one Raquel posted? When I checked last night it was a little over one hundred—”
She didn’t need to talk much.
Just turned her phone screen to my face.
My eyes bulged when I saw the numbers.
“Girllll. That’s almost two hundred k already.”
“I know, right? Omg, it’s almost blowing up as much as her normal videos.”
“It better keep up.” I giggled, leaning in while subtly gesturing at the customers.
“I reckon most of them are here because of the video.”
“Yep.” She typed a few things on her phone before showing it to me.
“And look—our socials have been gaining more traction too. Not much compared to her video but it’s something.”
We had just begun scrolling past comments in Raquel’s video when I heard the door behind me chime.
I glanced back, curious to see who the new customer was.
Only for my smile to twist into a scowl that I knew was ugly.
Whitney was still laughing softly at something I said—then she noticed the shift in my mood.
And followed my gaze as well.
“Dear Lord…” she muttered, almost immediately looking away.
Because walking carefully into the studio was none other than my leech of an ex-husband.
Unlike last time, he came alone.
Wearing a simple black shirt folded to the elbows and a sorry expression that would’ve worked on me a few weeks ago.
Now all I could think about was how my mood had gone from ‘almost ruined’ to ruined to perfection.
His eyes barely scoured the place before they landed on me.
He beamed, slipping his hands into his pocket before making a beeline for me.
“Ma’am,” Whitney whispered.
“I could call the police and report a harassment case.”
“That won’t be necessary, Whit.” I gave her a small nod before facing the rat who just won’t delete himself from my life.
“Simon. At this point, I don’t know if you’re desperate or plain stubborn and stupid.”
Whitney eased away from the scene, signalling a few employees staring too long to go back to work.
“I deserve that.” He smiled wryly once he stopped in front of me.
Something annoyingly close to remorse flashed in his eyes.
“And I don’t… I don’t even know why I’m here—”
“Wonderful.” I smiled sarcastically.
“Maybe you can find out after stepping the fuck out of my studio.”
“I’ve listened to enough of your crap for one lifetime. Just leave.”
His lips pursed.
There was genuine surprise on his face now.
“… You heard about my house getting burnt down.” A pause.
“Right? I mean I told you.”
“And?”
“You never checked on me. I called. Texted. Danielle that’s—”
“You’re lucky I didn’t drive there just to piss on whatever’s left.” The words came out faster than I could think, my chest rising and falling with every heavy breath.
God, I hate how much of an effect he had on me.
But I was done letting him trample over me.
“You see this?” He brushed a hand through his hair.
“W–What I did to you—I feel like my house burning down was some divine punishment. I can’t get over how it happened the same day after I brought Tanisha here.”
“Divine punishment.” I echoed.
My mind went to Anzari.
How he admitted being behind the fire just like I’d suspected.
In hindsight, I almost felt bad for Simon.
Almost.
“Shit, I ain’t no priest,” I shook my head.
“Go meet your pastor or something. If you think you need some divine cleanse, that is.”
Simon sighed dejectedly.
“I’m being serious here, Danielle.”
I could notice more stares fixed on us.
This was dragging on too long.
I was about to turn away from him without saying a thing when his hand wrapped around my wrist.
I gasped.
It took everything in me not to slap him.
“Is it because of Tanisha?” His voice cracked.
“Listen, me bringing her here was a shitty move. I admit it—”
“Fuck you.” I hissed, pulling my hand out of his grip.
“You want to talk about shitty moves? Start with cheating on me with your secretary then having the gall to date her right after.”
“Danielle, I know. You…”
Whatever he had to say got filtered through my ears.
I froze, feeling a sharp tug on my senses.
Oddly similar to what I felt when Anzari walked into the club that night.
Shocked, my eyes darted past Simon’s blubbering form, towards the glass walls.
My breath caught.
Across the street standing almost inconspicuously amongst the walking crowd of pedestrians was a person in a black cloak.
They stood still.
Eerily still.
And I don’t know if I was imagining things but I could tell they were looking right at me despite the distance.
Before I could even think—they vanished.
Like actually disappeared as though there was no one there, the people continuing with their walking.
Clear sign that none of them saw this person other than me.
“… Danielle?” Simon frowned, snapping his neck back.
“What are you looking at?”
I ignored him, waltzing to the glass wall.
Searching aimlessly for any signs of this cloaked person.
But they were gone.
That wasn’t Anzari.
So… who the fuck was it?