Page 99 of My Vigilante Valentine

“Yep. I should get a few hours in. In a bed. Long night ahead,” I said, wincing as the instant replay rolled through my mind. “And, for the record, none of that was meant to sound like it probably did.”

Jax’s lips twitched as he kissed the top of my head, and then he left the shop so I could let my paranoid cousin run through the plan again.

Okay, to be fair? That little space-out moment with Jax was the reason Chris wasn’t the only one who wanted to keep going over things until we were sure it was on lock.

And by the time the sun began to set, I’d lost my opportunity to take a nap. In two hours’ time, people would be arriving for my late-night coffee shop event, and now it was time to get pretty.

But on the bright side, we knew the plan front-to-back. Or was it back-to-front?

Whatever, it would work out perfectly, and I couldn’t wait to take this sucker down.

But then, Chris’s rhythmic typing suddenly stopped, and I looked over to find him blankly staring at his screen.

“What is it?” I asked.

“This isn’t good.Reallynot good.”

“Chris?”

“I just found something in an encrypted folder that I thought was damaged beyond repair… Wait. You know what? It doesn’t matter. Just look.” He turned the laptop with a rough jerk, pointing at what he wanted me to see. “The Villain... he’s been watching us.All of us.”

Ice slid down my back as I stared at the surveillance photos. There were dozens of them—me at the coffee shop, Jax coming and going, the two of us together.

But the worst ones?

They showed Jax in his Blade gear, entering his building through the roof access.

“He knows,” I whispered. “He knows who Jax is.”

Chris clicked a new image—one that had bile rising in my throat. It was of Jax on the street outside my building. And judging from his suit, it was the night of our fancy date. His suit jacket was open, and he was looking down… as if counting the glinting knives that were sheathed on the inside.

“And I think this means he knows we’ve been trying to trap him for a while now.” Chris ran a hand through his hair. “Luna, this changes everything. We need to?—”

I fumbled for my phone. “Yep, calling Jax.”

But there was no answer.

Of course not—he was probably still asleep.

“I’ll head over and wake him up,” I said, standing. I shot him a text with a warning just in case he saw it before I made it across the street. “You stay here and?—”

“Luna, wait.” Chris grabbed my arm. “We should stick together.”

“His building is literally across the street. I’ll be fine. Just keep digging into… I don’t know, computer stuff.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Text me the second you get there.”

“Will do.”

I headed for the door, mind racing. If The Villain knew who Jax was, and if he knew about our trap... we needed to regroup.

We needed a new plan—and fast, before someone else got hurt.

The street was eerily quiet as I jogged toward Jax’s building, and even the air felt different—heavier somehow, like it was intentionally trying to slow me down.

I was halfway there when I saw it—a shadow moving too fast, too purposefully, and in my direction.

Jax.

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