“I don’t know. I came home, looked through my bag, and found it.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’ve…I’ve received similar notes before. But it’s been a while since the last one.”
The flicker of danger ignited into a flame. The intensity of it soaked every molecule of air, but instead of unnerving me, it made me feel safe, like it was a titanium wall shielding me from the outside world.
I’d never told anyone except Jules about my stalker before. I wanted to tell Christian, if only because he was the security expert and would have ideas about how to track the creep down. But I was crashing now that the adrenaline from finding the note had worn off.
Exhaustion tugged at my eyes, and every time I opened my mouth to explain the situation, a yawn escaped instead.
Christian must’ve known I lacked the energy for anything except sleep because he didn’t ask for details. Instead, he stood and held out his hand.
After a brief hesitation, I scooted out from under the table and took it.
Dizziness overtook me as he pulled me to my feet, but when it passed, I almost did a double take at how normal my apartment looked.
Same aromatherapy candle sitting on the coffee table. Same cashmere blanket draped over the back of the armchair. No trace of the wild panic that’d cycled through me less than thirty minutes ago.
We always expected our external world to reflect our internal one, but it was situations like these that reminded me the world would go on no matter what happened to us individually.
It was equal parts reassuring and depressing.
I sank onto the couch while Christian did a quick security sweep of the apartment. My legs couldn’t hold my weight anymore, and I’d almost fallen asleep against the deep cream cushions when he returned to the living room.
“You can’t stay here. The apartment’s secure,” he added when I straightened with alarm. “But the person who wrote the note is still out there and probably knows where you live. You have to move.”
Anxiety tightened my stomach. “To where? This is my home.”
“It’s not safe.”
“I thought the Mirage had the best building security in the city.”
Christian’s only response was a tightening of his jaw.
I took a deep breath. My fog of terror had cleared enough for rational thinking to sink in again.
“Whoever the culprit is, they got to me outside the building. There’s nowhere I can move that would be safer than here. Besides…” My fingers curled tight around the edge of the couch. “I’m not letting some coward who hides behind anonymous letters drive me out of my own home.”
I’d spent too many years in the passenger seat of my life, letting other people steer me to where they wanted me to go. Living in fear of their commentary about my actions and making myself small to fit into whatever box they put me in. My parents’ expectations, my boss’s demands, my stalker’s notes, which left me so paranoid I jumped at every slam of a door and snap of a twig.
They acted, I reacted.
I was sick of it. It was time to wrestle back control, and learning how to say no was the first step.
“I’m not moving,” I repeated.
If the stalker had broken into my apartment, it would’ve been a different matter, but he hadn’t. Besides, I was right. There was nowhere I could move that would be safer than the Mirage.
Christian stared at me, his expression carved of granite.
I forced myself not to look away even as my body fought against the weight of his gaze.
He’d seen me vulnerable, but I refused to let him see me weak.
My breath pressed tight against my lungs, and it wasn’t until Christian dipped his head in acquiescence that I released it.
Relief and a kernel of pride rushed to fill the void.
He hadn’t said a word, but I had the unshakeable sense that I’d just faced off against a lion and won.
“Fine, but you’re not staying here without extra protection.”
I could live with that. I welcomed it, even, as long as the extra protection wasn’t too intrusive.
For a second, I thought Christian would offer to stay the night with me, and I hated how my heart skipped a beat at the thought.
“Kage, I need you for an assignment…yes. Overnight.” Several beats passed before he spoke again, his voice hard. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re dining with the Pope or having sex with Margot fucking Robbie. I want you on the tenth floor of the Mirage in twenty minutes.”
Disappointment curled through me before I crushed it. Of course Christian wouldn’t stay with me. He was the CEO. That type of work was probably beneath him.
He hung up, and something niggled at the back of my mind in the silence that followed.
“Why did you come to see me? Before you…” Found me in the middle of a panic attack. “Before you realized what happened.”
Christian slipped his phone into his pocket. “I wanted to clear the air after our exchange.”
It was a smooth, neutral reply. Almost too smooth.
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“You have a reason for everything, or you wouldn’t do it.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, but he didn’t elaborate on his earlier answer.
He’d said twenty minutes, but someone knocked on the door less than ten minutes later.
That someone turned out to be a mountain of a man, all muscles and tattoos and good-looking in a way that must be irresistible to women with a weakness for bad boys.
Kage, I assumed.
Christian briefed him on the situation, but they were so quiet I couldn’t make out what they said. Whatever it was, it brought a frown to Kage’s face that softened when he finally turned to me.
“Don’t worry, darlin’.” His soft Southern accent eased the knots in my shoulders like magic. Next to him, Christian’s jaw flexed, but it happened so quickly I might’ve imagined it. “I’ll be right here the whole night. No one’s gettin’ past me. They didn’t call me The Mountain in the military for nothin’.”
I mustered a small smile. “Here I thought it was because you’re as big as a mountain.”
The corners of Kage’s eyes crinkled. “That, too.”
“Kage is one of my best. Like he said, no one will get past him.” Christian’s face remained impassive, but when he rested his gaze on Kage, the other man’s smile disappeared.
Kage stepped back from me like I’d suddenly caught fire.
I yawned again, too tired to think much of their strange interaction.
Sleep tugged at the edges of my consciousness, and I didn’t resist when Christian lifted me from the couch with firm but surprisingly gentle hands.
“Don’t pass out on the couch. Mr. Unicorn doesn’t like to share sleeping space.”
“Funny. If the security thing doesn’t work out, you should be a…” Another yawn split my face as we walked toward my bedroom. “A comedian.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Christian’s dry response overpowered Kage’s chuckle from behind us.
When we reached my room, I fell into bed more than I climbed into it. I was a lead weight, and gravity was an anchor dragging me toward my mattress.
“Good night,” I mumbled. My eyes were already closed, but I felt Christian’s presence in the room like a warm security blanket. “And thank you. For….”