AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have pictures of him?” Lily asked.
I hadn’t asked her to provide any. I didn’t want her to dig into a past she was desperate to forget. With the help of my assistant and the head of security, scouring online, we’d had enough documentation to make a comparison.
For someone who worked in an illegal, underground business, the asshole wasn’t too careful about what he posted. There were far too many photographs of him on various social media sites.
That was his first mistake.
But what that told me was, there would be other mistakes. David wasn’t careful. Which just meant I needed to find more of his mistakes to hit him where it hurt.
“My team has photos, yes,” I told her. “What my head of security found was that he’s been to the hotel multiple times. So far, he’s only stayed in the lobby, but he’s parked his ass there for hours on end, obviously waiting for you to come and go, so he can photograph you.”
Her back straightened, and she wrapped her arms around herself, like a draft had blown in. “And to get close to me.”
A thought that made my goddamn hands clench.
“Seems that way,” I replied.
“So, we know it’s him in LA.” Diesel’s leg dropped from the way it was crossed, and now that both of his feet were on the carpet, he leaned his arms on his thighs. “We know he’s come to the hotel more than once. We know he’s hiding his face, thinking he’s outsmarting us.” He paused. “What about the different locations? Was that him too? Or a PI?”
I moved the laptop bag and slid beside Lily, putting my arm around her. I fucking hated that she had to hear this. And I fucking hated that she’d been manipulated by this scumbag. “I think he’s tracking this plane, following the flight paths. Maybe he’s flying private, maybe commercial, but he has the means to get on a plane either way once he finds out where she’s going.” I let that statement settle. “What I don’t like is that aside from taking pictures of her, he’s not doing anything else. He’s not threatening her or texting or calling.”
“He’s also not trying to get into her room at your hotel,” Diesel said.
I shook my head. “He’s never been on any of the elevators or entered the stairwells.” I held her tighter, emphasizing those points.
“And in any of the locations he’s followed us to, he’s never attempted to get into her room or stop her on the street or approach her in any way,” Diesel said. “He’s just sitting quiet.”
The way he looked at me told me he was thinking the same thing.
David was sitting quietly for now, but the pictures he’d delivered were a message.
Things were building.
And a build only led to one thing.
An explosion.
“That’s not like him,” Lily admitted. “He’s not the quiet kind of guy. He’s a talker—from the moment he wakes up to when he falls asleep. Words are his weapon, and he uses them nonstop.” She gradually turned toward me. “Before getting my new phone, he was reaching out multiple times a day, throwing around all these accusations about you and about us.”
“But I’ve stopped him from being able to reach you. I won that battle. He knows that. He fucking hates that. He also hates that we’re together.”
“Why the sudden change though?” she asked. “How do you go from screaming to silent when that’s so out of character for him?”
Because the motherfucker was past mad. He was well beyond angry.
Screaming was no longer enough.
Things had progressed to a whole new, far deeper level.
That was the way I read the situation, and a fast glance at Diesel told me we were on the same page.
“I think he’s shifting his focus,” I told her. “I beat him once with the new phone. I beat him again by hiring Diesel. Now, he’s scheming for a way to beat me.”
She scanned my eyes. “What do I need to be doing differently?”
I lifted my hand to her neck, massaging the back of it. “You’re doing everything just right.”
“Brady …” Her shoulders rounded, her back hunched. She was caving inward, collapsing into her own body. “Why does it feel like something very wrong is about to happen?”
