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Already leaving Lily all alone? You think keeping her in your house with a security system and a guard by the door is going to stop me?
Fucking idiot.
I shoved my phone into my pocket, dropped my elbows onto my knees, and dived my fingers into my hair. I was surprised there were any strands left by the way I’d been tearing at them lately. “I need advice.”
“About …”
I glanced up. All the rage, all the resentment, all the furor was coming to a head. “I don’t know what the hell to do about David.”
“The ex?”
“From hell,” I added.
He adjusted his cuff links before setting his hands down on his desk. “Before we get to him, how’s Diesel?”
I hissed out the air I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in and leaned back in the chair. “Two weeks …” I couldn’t stop the growl from coming through my lips. “Two fucking weeks he spent in that hospital. Can you believe that shit? A concussion, broken collarbone, four broken ribs. A ruptured spleen. A bruised lung.” I let my hands fall after using them to count each one of his injuries.
“David used a fucking crowbar on him, Dominick, and came at him from behind. It’s no wonder Diesel didn’t stand a chance.” My chest began to pound. “The footage … I could barely watch it. Makes me fucking sick to my stomach.”
“Damn, dude.” Dominick crossed his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t sound like David gives a fuck about anything, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
“That’s the thing. Once he got Diesel down on the ground, he didn’t stop. He probably wouldn’t have, but two of our guests came off the elevator, heading in his direction to get to their room, and David obviously didn’t want to be seen or caught, so he took off for the stairs.”
Dominick knew the basics. We’d spoken multiple times while I was in Scotland the past few weeks. What he didn’t know were the finer details, things I hadn’t wanted to discuss over the phone.
I crossed one leg over the other, my foot swinging in the air. “He set up a distraction to get the security team away from the feed. Same thing he had done in Charleston, which we thought was a coincidence at the time, and now, we know it wasn’t. This guy knows what he’s doing.”
“He’s a calculated motherfucker.”
I nodded. “No shit.” I wiped my hands over my jeans, the sweat pouring out of my body—I was so worked up. “We’d been to Edinburgh three times before our last visit, and David didn’t do anything. Diesel sat outside our room during every one of those trips. And then—boom—out of nowhere, he strikes.”
“Sounds like there’s no rhyme or reason for when he attacks. He just goes straight for it.”
My eyes shut as I exhaled. “Except for his texts. They come in daily. Threats, bullshit. He won’t stop.” When my hands were done rubbing my jeans, I gripped the armrests of the chair. “I’ve looked for him. I’ve had my assistant, who’s as good as a PI, try to find him. I even hired a PI to locate him. He’s untraceable.”
Dominick’s brows rose. “What would you do if you found him?”
I stayed silent, staring at my best friend.
“All right,” he voiced when he realized I was going to say the words he feared, “let me ask you this: what do you think it’ll take for him to stop?”
I clenched my fingers into a fist. “He wants me to give her up.”
“That’s not an option.”
I blew out some heavy wind from my chest. “No, it’s not a fucking option.”
“The police can’t take care of this, correct?”
“Correct.” I shook my head. “I’ve beefed up my security. Lily is never alone, no matter where she goes. I’m carrying a fucking gun on me at all times in case the asshole jumps me in public.” I lifted the bottom of my polo, showing him where the gun was tucked into my pants. “That’s why I’m coming to you. I don’t know what the hell to do at this point.”
He leaned onto his desk. “First off, you’re not going to have blood on your hands. I won’t let that happen. You have too much to lose—Lily, your freedom, your business.”
It wasn’t easy to wrap my head around any of this.
What it meant.
What I was willing to do.
