?Chapter 1347:


    The boutique was wired with three cameras, one fixed on the entrance, the others angled to watch the aisles.


    Two men stationed by the door acted absorbed in their phones, though their watchful nces kept returning to her.


    A woman nearby, supposedly shopping for essories, had been pretending to admire the same scarf for ages.


    Emerson’s surveince left no weak spot. The trap around Sadie was as elegant as it was suffocating.


    She felt like a songbird trapped in avish cage, allowed to flutter, but never really free.


    Choosing a soft cream dress from the rack, Sadie slipped into the fitting room.


    With the door closed behind her, the world outside disappeared. She studied her reflection, skin pale and colorless, but her eyes burned with fierce intensity.


    The sting from the cut on her forehead was still there, a warning not to act without thinking.


    She had to be clever. She needed a window, however small, to slip out a message, all while under constant surveince.


    She swapped outfits and stepped out, bracing herself.


    A sales assistant immediately approached her with a beaming smile. “Ma’am, this dress looks absolutely perfect on you, like it was made for you.”


    Sadie’s answer was a cold nce and silence as she moved past, making a beeline for the register.


    Pretty clothes meant nothing to her now.


    This outing wasn’t about shopping. It was about seizing whatever slim chance she could create.


    After paying, Sadie strode from the shop, bag in hand.


    Her guards moved at once, their presence clinging to her like a second shadow.


    Sadie walked on, eyes fixed ahead, her pace calm, making it seem like everything before had been nothing but her imagination.


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    Still, that fleeting moment of eye contact lingered, seared into her memory like a brand. There was no mistaking it.


    Noah was here.


    He’d actually shown up.


    She kept moving, looking like she was aimlessly drifting through the mall, all the while mapping her next steps with quick, sidelong nces. A restroom sign appeared up ahead, a crowded, bustling spot that just might provide the cover she needed.


    As she weighed her options and prepared to speak, her gaze swept over the edge of a column almost by ident.


    She froze mid-step.


    That corner was cloaked in shadows, perfect for hiding.


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