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I kiss her hand again and make a mental note to have Chase look into Melissa.
“No, it was Claudia DuBois.”
Polly frowns and blinks at me. “What?”
“I know, it’s unbelievable.”
“Ryan, I’ve seen that car all over town. It’s been driving through my neighborhood for a week and was parked down the street from my house. I’ve seen it drive by the shop. I figured a neighbor got a new car.” She tries to sit up straight, obviously agitated, and I lean in to kiss her cheek.
“Hey, easy, babe. I don’t want you to get upset.”
“Too late,” she mutters and closes her eyes. “I wish I had more energy. I want to pace.”
“Stay still. Claudia’s mentally ill,” I tell her. “I told you that I dated her, very briefly, a couple of years ago. Well, after I broke it off, she stalked me for a while. She’d go underground and then pop up, surprising me, showing up in random places all over the world. She’s smart. She was obsessed with me, or, I guess, the idea of me. I’d already upped my security presence because of the other situation, so she didn’t really worry me much. But I alerted the police, and she stopped contacting me and showing up in the same places I would be. I thought she’d moved on.”
“And then we saw her in Paris, and she caused that huge scene.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t say anything to me about all of this, even though you told me that you’d been with her.”
I sigh again and rest my forehead on the back of her hand. “I thought it was over. It had been over for a while. I was absolutely not expecting her to decide to hurt you, Polly, or I would have had my men take care of it.”
“I feel like this might be something we should have anticipated,” she says with a frown. “If she was that unhinged before, it makes sense, Ryan.”
“Fuck.” I push my hand through my hair and stand to pace myself.
“Hey, no fair, I can’t do that.”
“I’m sorry,” I say and look down at her, so small and frail looking in that bed. “You’re right, I should have figured she would try something, and I didn’t think of it because I’ve been too focused on you and Jake and this incredible life we’re building. I should have thought of it. I’m smarter than that.”
“Yeah, you are. But your security team should have thought of it, too.”
I stop and nod. “You’re right. That’s their job. I suspect after Claudia is charged with attempted murder, assault, stalking, and any other charges we can bring against her, we won’t have to worry about her anymore.”
Polly takes a deep breath, lets it out, and her bottom lip starts to quiver.
“Ah, baby.”
I rush back over to her and pull her against me.
“I’m so sorry, my love. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she says with a sniff. “I’m extra emotional these days, and maybe the past hour is catching up with me. But we have to talk, Ry.”
“I’m right here.”
She starts to speak, but the doctor comes in with a smile.
“Good news,” he says as he puts films on a light board and turns it on. “No break. Looks like you just wrenched the knee, so you’ll need ice and some ibuprofen for that. Oh, wait,” he consults the chart, “you’ll want to stay away from ibuprofen if you can. Let’s stick with Tylenol, but if that doesn’t help, you can take a small dose of the other, but not after twenty weeks. I’ll write that down for you.”
I frown. Twenty weeks of what? She’ll have knee pain for that long? I’m no doctor, but that doesn’t sound right.
“Let me get some discharge instructions printed for you, and you can go home,” he says. “Take it easy, and be sure to see your doctor as soon as possible.”
“Thank you,” Polly says as he leaves the room. She turns to me, and her green eyes suddenly look guarded. “I have to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
