{"id":3523,"date":"2026-05-21T14:43:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/?p=3523"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:13:04","slug":"part-2-the-man-she-was-running-from-was-already-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/?p=3523","title":{"rendered":"PART 2: The Man She Was Running From Was Already Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The words barely left her mouth before the bakery\u2019s warmth felt different.<\/p>\n

He found me.<\/p>\n

Grim didn\u2019t look away from her\u2014but his attention sharpened instantly.<\/p>\n

His eyes shifted toward the front windows.<\/p>\n

Snow drifted outside. Streetlights flickered. Nothing moved.<\/p>\n

But the girl wasn\u2019t looking at the street.<\/p>\n

She was looking at the door.<\/p>\n

Her small fingers clenched tighter around Grim\u2019s shirt like it was the only solid thing left in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said I wasn\u2019t allowed to run again,\u201d she whispered, voice breaking. \u201cHe said I belong to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chair scraped somewhere behind them.<\/p>\n

Every conversation in the bakery stopped completely.<\/p>\n

Grim slowly rose to his full height, placing himself between the girl and the entrance without touching her\u2014just close enough for protection.<\/p>\n

The bell above the door rang.<\/p>\n

No one entered.<\/p>\n

It rang again.<\/p>\n

Still nothing.<\/p>\n

But the girl flinched hard anyway, like she could hear something everyone else couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Grim\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d he said softly, without turning around. \u201cLook at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did.<\/p>\n

His voice stayed steady, but something dangerous settled underneath it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going anywhere with anyone you don\u2019t choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bakery lights flickered once.<\/p>\n

Outside, a shadow passed the fogged glass.<\/p>\n

And this time\u2014<\/p>\n

Grim saw it too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The words barely left her mouth before the bakery\u2019s warmth felt different. He found me. Grim didn\u2019t look away from her\u2014but his attention sharpened instantly. His eyes shifted toward the front windows. Snow drifted outside. Streetlights flickered. Nothing moved. But the girl wasn\u2019t looking at the street. She was looking at the door. Her small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}