They Told Me To Endure Her, Until They Faced Her Nightmare Too Chapter 07

At the co-working space, I muted my phone.

The girl at the front desk pointed me toward the back quiet room when she saw the circles under my eyes. I

took a corner sofa and set a timer for forty minutes.

No phantom banging. No sleeping with one ear cocked toward the hallway.

When the alarm buzzed, my head was clear. Espresso in hand, I opened my laptop and ran through the

project estimates-specs, costs, timeline. All locked in.

In the past, I would have burned whole days waiting for an apology, waiting for the neighbors to see reason,

waiting for permission to breathe. But clients don’t care about domestic chaos. Deadlines don’t move for

upstairs drama.

At two, I sent the presentation deck to my point of contact.

The reply hit my inbox three minutes later: [Received. See you tomorrow at three.]

I finally ate my first meal of the day.

At three, I walked down to the basement office.

Hannah had texted Miller claiming a migraine, asking to postpone.

Wendy had just poured a cup of water, and slammed the plastic pitcher onto the desk when she heard.

“She can go to Urgent Care,” Wendy said. “We’re not rescheduling around her drama.”

I didn’t argue. I set my folder flat on the table.

Hannah showed up fifteen minutes late in an oversized hoodie, baseball cap pulled low.

Her landlord, a woman named Karen who lived out in Jersey, sat across from her with her arms crossed.

“Were you at 5A’s door last night?” Karen asked directly.

Hannah kept her eyes on the floor. “I don’t remember…”

Karen tapped her phone, pausing Wendy’s video on the screen.

“If it’s medical, what’s your plan?” Karen said, strictly business.

“Does a family member need to stay with you? Or do you need out of your lease so you can get treatment? Because building management is already talking about formal fines. I’m not eating violations for this.”

Hannah looked up, cornered.

“Can you tell Summer to delete that Nextdoor post?”

Karen frowned. “We’re talking about the noise.”

“People are trashing me on there!” Hannah’s voice rose. “How am I supposed to rest with everyone ganging

up on me?”

She turned toward me.

“You want the $280 for the lock? I’ll Venmo you right now. Take the thread down.”

“Taking down a post doesn’t un-damage my frame,” I said.

Hannah’s jaw clenched. “What do you actually want from me?”

“I want to know if you’re coming up to my door tonight.”

Nobody told me to let it go this time.

Hannah didn’t answer.

Karen stood up, handed Miller her card, and told him to call the second Hannah stepped into the hallway

tonight.

Hannah shoved her chair back, legs scraping against the concrete.

“Fine. Put me under surveillance.”

I packed my papers. “Watching you isn’t my job.”

That evening, I mounted a video doorbell using a heavy-duty, no-drill door clamp.

I adjusted the field of view until it only framed the three feet right outside my threshold, leaving Wendy’s entrance completely blacked out.

Wendy came out while I was syncing the app.

“Can’t see into my apartment,” she said, squinting at my screen. “Good. Put it up. Now she can’t claim you made it up.”

I dropped a one-line update in the building chat:

[A Ring doorbell has been installed at 5A following recent property damage. Camera points strictly at my own threshold.]

Hannah replied ten minutes later: [So you’re tracking me?]

I replied: [The lens is on five. Stay off five and you’ll never be on it.]

Wendy lingered by the stairs, eyeing the fresh silver dent on my steel slab.

“Two days old,” she muttered.

“Yeah.”

“If she starts up tonight, I’m opening my door to record,” Wendy said, looking at the floorboards. “She’s not

pinning this on you again.”

I just nodded and pulled my door shut.

Before bed, I packed my laptop, charger, and three printed pitch decks into my shoulder bag by the door.

Alarm set for seven. Whatever happened in the stairwell tonight, I was walking into that boardroom

tomorrow.

At 1:15 AM, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

Motion detected at Front Door.

I opened the feed.

A flash of pink fleece entered the bottom frame.

Hannah stepped onto the mat, stopped, and stared directly into the lens.