Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Cheddar didn’t bother moving. He was stretched out on the floor on his back, his fat baby kitten belly on display, not a care in the world.
I navigated the baby gate and Hale asked, “Coffee?”
I nodded, all of a sudden feeling funny.
I understood why when he went to the kitchen.
Not me.
He didn’t come to me.
I followed him and stood at the island as he made my coffee.
Frosty brushed against my ankle, and I leaned down to give him some scratches.
By the time I straightened, Hale was sliding my coffee across the island to me.
But he remained on the other side.
“Her name is Marcia Dabrowksi,” he announced matter-of-factly.
I hooked the mug with my left index finger, but I didn’t lift it to my mouth.
Because…why was he on the other side of the island?
“The man who subdued her is named Rhys Vaughan. He’s my father’s.”
My body jolted in surprise at his strange words.
“He’s…your father’s?” I asked.
Hale nodded.
“What does that mean?”
“That means he worked for my dad. That means he still works for my dad. Which means, when the situation with Dabrowski became unsafe, orders my father left before his death meant the head of my security activated this Vaughan guy.”
Whoa.
That was huge news. Absolutely huge.
For Hale.
Hale kept talking.
“Within weeks, he did what my team, Jamie’s investigator and the police couldn’t do. He found Marcia Dabrowski. As you know, after the cat incident, she went dark. We now know, because she told the police, she did because she was watching you and saw them show at your office. At this point, she backed off and regrouped. Vaughan stayed on her. She didn’t make him last night, but she saw Hudson, so she managed to shake him. Vaughan told Hudson he’d lost her, and they knew she was planning something, so he recruited Hudson and they went in search of her. They thought you and I would be safe in a ballroom filled with eight hundred people. Sadly, you left that area to go to a space that was unoccupied. Fortunately, they were searching the conference floor and you scream loudly.”
He was finished with this part of his story, I could tell, since he stopped talking.
So I said, “Okay.”
“She’s now incarcerated,” he continued, still speaking by rote, like he was reading a report. “I had a call from the police to share some preliminary findings of the search of her apartment. She’s been fixated on me for a while. You as well, starting after the Blaze the Trail gala. I wasn’t her first, though. She had other objects of fascination. Meticulously organized filing cabinets full of them. Regrettably, for some reason, she stayed on me rather than jumping to some other guy before she totally lost her mind. This might have something to do with the fact I saw her downstairs, once, and photographers were jostling her. I told them to be careful of her. I didn’t think about it again, but she told the police that story, and they shared she took that as proof of what she’d already convinced herself, that she and I were connected.”
Since it seemed he was finished with this part of his story as well, I shared, “I saw her too. Outside my offices. Also only once. The day after the Blazing the Trail gala.”
He didn’t look happy about that, but since he didn’t look happy at all, it wasn’t much of a change.
But he did start talking again.
“Obviously, I had a few things to say to Heath and Hudson about how they should have told me she was on the premises so I could have kept you close. And why Vaughan was called in at all without me being informed. But apparently, Hudson and Vaughan notified hotel and event security, some of whom were recruited to help in the search, others who were supposed to keep an eye on both of us. They weren’t up for the job, but it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t paying them to protect you. My team fucked up. I get that their main concern was finding her, and they thought they’d enlisted assistance, and even the time it took to send a text or make a call would be time spent in better pursuits, like ascertaining where this nutjob was. But Hudson should have contacted me.”
He probably should have, but he was human. There was no reason for me to leave an area that was clogged with people.
Except the one I had.
But he couldn’t know I’d do that.
“I should have told you I had to go upstairs,” I said. “Or I should have told Hudson.”
“You’re not getting paid to keep yourself safe.”
I didn’t like his affect. His tone. His distance. He seemed pissed, which was understandable, but there was something else happening here.
Something worse than getting slashed by a stalker.
“Are you okay?” I asked.