Chapter 1 — The Man in My Bed
The first thing Zuri noticed was the weight beside her.
The second was the breathing.
Slow.
Steady.
Too close.
Her eyes remained closed for another second as she tried to remember where she was.
Her bedroom smelled faintly of vanilla from the candle she had forgotten to blow out before falling asleep. The curtains were half-open, allowing the pale morning light to spill across the room.
Everything seemed normal.
Until she felt the mattress dip beside her.
Zuri’s eyes snapped open.
A man’s arm was resting on top of the sheets.
She froze.
For several seconds, she didn’t breathe.
Her eyes slowly moved from the man’s hand to his arm, then to his shoulder.
There was a man sleeping beside her.
In her bed.
In her bedroom.
In her apartment.
Zuri: “What the—”
She slapped her hand over her mouth before the rest of the sentence escaped.
Her heart began pounding.
She pushed herself upright as quietly as possible.
The man didn’t move.
He was lying on his side, facing away from her.
Zuri stared at him.
Who was he?
How did he get inside?
And more importantly—
Why was he in her bed?
She looked around the room.
Her bedroom door was closed.
The window was locked.
Her phone was on the nightstand.
Nothing looked broken.
Nothing looked disturbed.
There was no sign that anyone had forced their way inside.
Zuri’s breathing became faster.
She reached carefully toward her phone.
Her fingers had almost touched it when the man spoke.
Kairo: “I’d leave the phone where it is.”
Zuri screamed.
She grabbed the nearest object—a decorative lamp—and raised it above her head.
The man slowly opened his eyes.
He didn’t look frightened.
He didn’t look confused.
He simply looked at her.
Calmly.
As if waking up in a stranger’s bedroom was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Zuri’s grip tightened around the lamp.
Zuri: “Who are you?”
The man blinked once.
Then he looked at the lamp.
Then back at her.
Kairo: “You don’t remember me.”
It wasn’t a question.
Zuri’s stomach dropped.
Zuri: “Should I?”
He sat up slowly.
Zuri immediately moved backward until her shoulders touched the headboard.
The man was tall.
Even sitting down, there was something intimidating about him.
His dark skin caught the morning light. His short black hair was slightly messy from sleep, and a neatly trimmed beard framed his jaw.
But it was his eyes that unsettled her.
Dark.
Steady.
Familiar.
Zuri hated that last thought.
He looked familiar.
She lowered the lamp slightly.
Zuri: “How did you get into my apartment?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked around the room.
His gaze stopped briefly on a framed photograph sitting on Zuri’s dresser.
Then he looked back at her.
Kairo: “You really don’t remember me?”
Zuri: “Stop saying that.”
Her voice shook.
Zuri: “I asked you how you got into my apartment.”
Kairo remained silent.
That silence frightened her more than an explanation would have.
Zuri reached for her phone again.
This time, he didn’t stop her.
She grabbed it and unlocked the screen.
Her fingers hovered over the emergency call option.
Zuri: “I’m calling the police.”
Kairo’s expression finally changed.
Only slightly.
Kairo: “Don’t.”
Zuri: “Give me one reason.”
He stared at her.
Kairo: “Because if you call them, they’ll ask you questions you don’t want to answer.”
Zuri frowned.
Zuri: “What does that mean?”
Kairo looked at the phone in her hand.
Kairo: “It means you invited me here.”
Zuri almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Zuri: “I did not invite you here.”
Kairo: “You did.”
Zuri: “I don’t know you.”
A strange expression crossed his face.
Sadness.
For just a moment.
Then it disappeared.
Kairo: “You used to.”
Zuri stared at him.
Her mind raced.
Had she met him at a party?
A restaurant?
A friend’s house?
She tried to remember the previous night.
Dinner.
Work.
Amara calling her.
A glass of wine.
Her apartment.
Bed.
Nothing else.
She looked at her phone.
There were several missed calls from Amara.
One message.
Call me when you wake up. It’s important.
Zuri swallowed.
She looked at the man again.
Zuri: “What’s your name?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation sent another chill through her.
Kairo: “Kairo.”
The name landed strangely.
Kairo.
She repeated it silently.
Nothing.
No memory.
No recognition.
Just an uncomfortable feeling that the name belonged somewhere inside her mind.
Zuri: “Kairo what?”
Kairo: “Mensah.”
Zuri’s face changed.
She didn’t know why.
But suddenly, the room felt colder.
Mensah.
She had heard that name before.
Somewhere.
She searched her memory.
Nothing.
Kairo watched her carefully.
Kairo: “You remember.”
Zuri: “No.”
She said it too quickly.
He noticed.
Of course he noticed.
Kairo: “You do.”
Zuri: “I don’t.”
Kairo looked toward the dresser again.
Toward the photograph.
Zuri followed his gaze.
It was an old photograph of her father.
She had kept it there for years.
Her father had been smiling in the picture, one hand resting on Zuri’s mother’s shoulder.
Kairo’s eyes stayed on it.
Zuri: “Why are you looking at that?”
He didn’t answer.
Zuri climbed out of bed.
Her legs felt weak.
She kept the lamp in one hand and her phone in the other.
Zuri: “You have ten seconds to tell me why you’re here.”
Kairo looked at her.
Kairo: “You wouldn’t believe me.”
Zuri: “Try me.”
He stood.
Zuri instinctively stepped backward.
He was taller than she had expected.
Much taller.
But Kairo didn’t move toward her.
He simply stood beside the bed.
Kairo: “Last night, you called me.”
Zuri shook her head.
Zuri: “I don’t have your number.”
Kairo: “You did.”
Zuri: “Show me.”
He reached toward the nightstand.
Zuri raised the lamp again.
Zuri: “Slowly.”
Kairo stopped.
A faint smile touched his lips.
Kairo: “You always did that.”
Zuri’s stomach tightened.
Zuri: “Did what?”
Kairo: “Threaten people with whatever was closest.”
She stared at him.
There was something about the way he said it.
Not teasing.
Not mocking.
Familiar.
Like he’d seen her do it before.
Many times.
Zuri lowered the lamp.
Only slightly.
Zuri: “Where did we meet?”
Kairo looked directly into her eyes.
For the first time, his calm expression broke.
Kairo: “That’s the problem, Zuri.”
Her entire body went still.
He knew her name.
She had never told him.
Zuri: “How do you know my name?”
Kairo said nothing.
Zuri’s heart began pounding again.
Zuri: “How do you know my name?”
He stepped away from the bed.
Then he looked at the photograph of her father one last time.
Kairo: “Because I knew your family before I knew you.”
Zuri couldn’t speak.
Kairo walked toward the bedroom door.
She immediately moved in front of him.
Zuri: “You’re not going anywhere.”
He stopped.
For the first time that morning, something like fear appeared in his eyes.
Not fear of her.
Fear for her.
Kairo: “You need to listen to me.”
Zuri: “Why?”
His voice dropped.
Kairo: “Because whoever made you forget me...”
He paused.
His eyes moved toward the locked bedroom window.
“...is going to come back.”
Zuri’s blood ran cold.
Zuri: “What are you talking about?”
Kairo looked at her again.
Kairo: “You were never supposed to remember.”
Then someone knocked on the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Zuri’s eyes widened.
Kairo’s entire expression changed.
He knew those knocks.
She could see it.
Zuri: “Who is that?”
Kairo didn’t answer.
Another three knocks sounded.
This time, louder.
Zuri looked toward the bedroom door.
Then back at Kairo.
Zuri: “Kairo?”
He finally spoke.
But his voice was barely a whisper.
Kairo: “Don’t open that door.”
Zuri’s phone suddenly vibrated in her hand.
A new message appeared.
Unknown Number.
She opened it.
There was only one sentence.
He should never have found you.
Zuri looked up.
Kairo was staring at her phone.
And for the first time since she had opened her eyes that morning, the man in her bed looked genuinely afraid.
What happens next?
Choice 1 — The Door:Zuri ignores Kairo’s warning and opens the apartment door, discovering someone who knows exactly who Kairo is.
Choice 2 — The Photograph:Zuri refuses to open the door and demands answers. Kairo finally tells her what connects him to her father.
Choice 3 — The Escape:Kairo grabs Zuri’s hand and gets her out through the bedroom window before whoever is outside can enter.
Choice 4 — Amara Arrives:The knocking suddenly stops. Minutes later, Amara arrives—and the moment she sees Kairo, her face turns pale because she knows him.
