Deadly Betrayal

by L A Dobbs

  As blissful as it sounded, she knew she wouldn’t do it. Too many people depended on her these days to chuck it all. Her producers, her record company, Lou, her fans.

  Nope. Time to suck it up and get to work like the professional that she was.

  Jan sighed and picked up her guitar, strumming the strings a few times before letting her fingers idly pick out the first few notes of a new song that had been swimming around in the tide pools of her consciousness for a few weeks now.

  Four hours later, according to her watch, Lou burst through the door again, his face expectant. “Well?”

  “Five out of six.” She handed him the scribbled sheets of music and lyrics she’d completed. “Not bad.”

  Lou looked them over and smiled. “Not bad at all, cupcake. I knew you could do it.”

  “That makes one of us, then.” She pushed to her feet and stretched. “I’m starving.”

  “Pretty sure your boyfriend brought you something downstairs.” Lou pointed out the door with one hand, her newly composed music in the other. “Smells like Chinese, maybe?”

  “Yum.” Jan headed out the door then turned once more to face her manager. “And he’s my bodyguard, not my boyfriend.”

  “Whatever you say, cupcake.”

  She ignored his skeptical tone and instead headed downstairs to find Dino. Lou had been right. The fragrance of garlic and spices and eggrolls made her stomach rumble. She’d always been a nut for Chinese food, and apparently Dino had remembered. That thought warmed her heart and her blood more than it should. She followed her nose straight to her dressing room and pushed the door open to find Dino camped out on her sofa, various white containers and two sets of chopsticks on the table before him.

  “Hungry?” he asked, turning toward her with a raised brow and a grin.

  “Starving.” She closed the door behind her and took a seat on the opposite end of the sofa from him. He passed her a plate filled with noodles and veggies and spicy chicken, all topped with an eggroll, and she couldn’t have been happier if he’d handed her the keys to Fort Knox. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome.” He piled up his own plate then dug into his food with as much gusto as she did hers.

  “This is so good,” she said around a mouthful of lo mein. “Where’s it from?”

  “Double Dragon, over on Tropicana. Did some surveillance work for the owners a few years ago. They give me free food whenever I want it.”

  “That sounds like the best deal ever.”

  “Oh, yeah.” He bit off half an eggroll in one bite. “I consider it payment in full.”

  She grinned this time and pointed at his face. “You have a bit of cabbage…”

  “Where?” Dino swiped at both sides of his mouth. “Gone?”

  “No.” She set her plate aside and leaned closer, her napkin outstretched. “Here, I’ll get it.”

  He held still while she wiped the food off his chin. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  Their eyes met, held, as his lips parted and he inched closer, and she knew that if she just waited a few seconds more he’d kiss her, softly and tenderly and hotter than the Sahara in July.

  Jan scrambled back into her corner of the couch and grabbed her plate.

  No more kissing. Not now, not ever.

  Not with him.

  Kissing him was lethal to her good sense.

  And right now she needed all the good sense she could get—she still had a stalker to deal with, and being all googly eyed over Dino Machiavelli would do nothing to help her remain aware of her surroundings.

  She finished the last few bites of food on her plate then set it aside and grabbed her phone, avoiding eye contact with Dino in the process. She could feel the weight of his stare on her while he ate his lunch, even though she couldn’t see him.

  There were close to two hundred messages waiting in her inbox, and she scrolled through them quickly, discarding the junk and saving what was important until later. Things were flowing smoothly again since she’d gotten her old address blocked, and hopefully there wouldn’t be any more threatening e-mails from her stalker. Rockford Security had helped her get it set up.

  Most of the messages, she noticed, were regarding the song snippet Lou had mentioned earlier. Congratulations for the song doing well, invitations for interviews and guest appearances, a few from fans asking when the single would be released. She got to the bottom of the list and saw one more. This one looked different from the rest, and that address…

  Her heart sank as she opened it.

  It was her new song, Lie With Me, except different.

  The stalker had taken the lyrics and twisted them into a sick parody of what they’d been.

  How had her stalker gotten this new address? How? She’d been so careful with who she gave the address to—only people she worked with had it. And the lyrics. Only the first verse and chorus had been released to the public. She hadn’t sung the whole song in the interview the other day on Viva Las Vegas Live. So how had the stalker gotten the entire thing?

  People she worked with…

  “Dino.” She did her best to keep her tone unconcerned and failed miserably, if the dark look he gave her was any indication.

  “Yeah?” He wiped his mouth and leaned closer to take the phone she held out to him. “What is this?”

  “It’s the lyrics to my new song. Except not.”

  He looked as confused as she felt. “What does that mean?”

  “The stalker took them and rewrote them. The only people who have seen those lyrics work in this building, Dino. No one else has them.”

  His scowl darkened like an approaching thunderhead. “Meaning it was someone who works here.”

  “Exactly.” She pushed to her feet and walked to the door. “I need to talk to Lou.”

  “I’ll come with you.” He set his empty plate aside and followed her up the stairs to her manager’s office. “Seems Lou’s got some explaining to do.”

  “Yep.” She knocked once then opened the door, only to find the office empty. “Damn. He’s not here.”

  “Huh.” Dino peered over her shoulder then followed her inside and watched while she riffled through the papers scattered on Lou’s desk. “What are you looking for?”

  “I’m not sure.” God, for a man who seemed so on top of her career, this guy’s office was a mess. Jan glanced at a document in her hand and read the letterhead of one of the most prestigious law firms in Las Vegas. What the hell had Lou done now? The whole thing was written in legalese and made little sense to her. The only words that stood out were Copyright Infringement. “Uh-oh.”

  “What?” Dino moved in beside her again, and she handed him the paper. “What does this mean?”

  “Means someone thinks that I copied their work and put my name on it.”

  “You would never do something like that.”

  “I know.” She crossed her arms. “But they don’t. Whoever they are.”

  Dino flicked a skeptical look between her and the paper.

  “It’s nothing,” Jan assured him. “This sort of thing happens all the time. People trying to get money for nothing, hoping we’ll settle.”

  He tossed the paper aside and took her arm. “C’mon.”

  “Where are we going?” She had no choice but to follow him out of the room.

  “This place isn’t safe for you. I’m taking you home. And that’s where you’re going to stay until I talk to Lou and get this sorted out.”

  “I can’t just leave.”

  “You can today.” He led her back downstairs and to the dressing room. “Now get your stuff. You can come back as soon as I’ve straightened things out with your manager.”

  “When will that be?” Jan asked as she grabbed her bag. “I’ve got an album to finish.”

  “Not long.” Dino escorted her out the front door and into the bright sunshine. He slid his sunglasses into place and opened the door of the Tahoe for her. “I’m good at tracking people down.�
�

  17

  Two days later, Dino sat outside the small radio station recording studio adjacent to Treble Studios in the 18B complex. True to his word, he’d tracked down Lou at a fancy business luncheon later the same day that he’d taken Jan home early. In his book, “fancy business lunch” was code for eating too little, drinking too much, and overall just wasting someone else’s money. Lou apparently had the same definition.

  Dino snorted and shook his head. At least Lou had explained the copyright infringement paperwork they’d found in his office. From some disgruntled fan, he’d said. Claimed Jan had taken a poem they’d written to her and used it to create her song. He said they get notices like that several times a year. He never shared them with Jan because they never amounted to anything and he didn’t want to stress her out any more than she already was.

  He couldn’t argue with that logic.

  Plus, Lou had agreed to give Dino free reign when it came to investigating everyone at Treble Studios. With his increased authority in place, Dino had called Blake and gotten a team at Rockford on it right away. So far, none of the background checks had turned up anything, but if Jan was right and it was an inside job, then it would only be a matter of time. Things seemed relatively safe at Treble Studios, so he’d allowed her to go back to work. With things going as they were, he was confident that the stalker would be caught soon and Jan would be safe.

  So why did he have this niggling feeling of trepidation?

  “That, listeners, was a clip from January Winters’ new song, Lie With Me,” the DJ’s voice boomed over the speaker system. “And we’re lucky enough to have January in the studio with us today. How are you doing, Jan?”

  “I’m really good, thanks.”

  Through the glass, he saw Jan flash the guy her brightest smile, the one that always sent Dino’s heart racing, and he tuned out the interview as memories of their night together a few days prior returned. It had felt so good to hold her again, to feel her soft warmth cuddled beside him just like old times, that he’d never wanted to let her go again.

  Of course, he had to let her go. That’s what she said she wanted, despite her desperation to be held the night before, which she apparently regretted in the light of day. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but through her actions. She’d hightailed it out of his bed and his arms so fast that morning after, he’d doubled-checked to make sure her ass wasn’t on fire.

  Well, that and he just liked looking at her perfect little butt.

  He couldn’t help himself. He was a man in love with a woman who wanted nothing to do with him. A woman who’d left him behind and moved on with her life, which was exactly what he should do as well, except he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he was sure she was safe. Until he was sure she was happy. Happy without him.

  It was for the best—getting involved any deeper with Jan would distract him, and he couldn’t afford that. Not with the stalker escalating like this.

  His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to see a new message from the team at Rockford. Still nothing on the Treble staff, and now, to make matters worse, the stalker e-mail with the screwed-up lyrics had originated from the same Internet café as the others. Which meant it was as untraceable as all the others.

  With a sigh, he clicked the phone off and shoved it back into his pocket. Hell, he’d even gotten the police involved after the magazine debacle, but they hadn’t had any better luck finding this guy than he had. Not that he’d expected them to. Local law enforcement wasn’t known for their diligence when it came to celebrity stalker cases. They put forth minimal effort and produced minimal results. It seemed like they figured the celebs either had their own security to handle those issues or they had it coming for daring to become rich and famous.

  Even with all the added eyeballs on the case, Dino was still worried. Worried that this stalker was one of the few that didn’t stick to sending anonymous e-mails and packages and that the next time he attacked, it would be something far worse. He hadn’t been kidding about the escalation. Sometimes these people who became obsessed with a particular celebrity only got more violent the longer they eluded capture. Over the years, there’d even been a few cases of stars being injured or killed by their stalkers.

  The thought of this whack job getting anywhere close enough to Jan to harm her that way scared him beyond reason. He’d do whatever was necessary to protect her, but he wasn’t with her twenty-four, seven. Even if he was, what if his best wasn’t good enough? What if he did everything he could and this psycho still got to Jan?

  The door to the radio station recording booth opened, and Jan stepped out. “Thanks again for having me on today, Randy.”

  “No problem,” the DJ said, his dopey expression clearly stating he was as star struck by Jan as the rest of the country. “Any time you want to come back, just let me know.”

  She flashed the guy her best fake smile again then turned to walk out with Dino. He opened the door for her and placed his hand at the small of her back to escort her out into the hallway. At his touch, she shivered, and he smiled. She might not want him around, but her body sure did.

  He cleared his suddenly constricted throat as they weaved through the maze of businesses that made up the art-house-meets-hipster-complex on their way back toward Treble Studios. “How’d that go?”

  “Fine.” She glanced over at him, her expression annoyed. “You were sitting outside. Didn’t you listen?”

  “I was busy with work.” He tapped his phone in his pocket. “Got a message from the team. So far, everyone at the studio checks out, and that e-mail with the lyrics came from the coffeehouse, just like the others.”

  “Great.” She exhaled hard. “Which means we’re no closer to finding this person than we were before. And I have to talk to Lou this afternoon.”

  “About what?” They turned another corner, and the door to Treble loomed in the distance. “Anything I can help with?”

  “Unless you want to handle booking my next promo appearance, no.”

  “Yeah, coordinating big social events is not my thing.”

  “Tell me about it.” They reached the studio door, and this time, she held it open for him. “I still remember that awful surprise birthday party you tried to set up for me when I turned sixteen. I haven’t been able to look at a clown the same way again.”

  “Hey.” He chuckled as he walked beside her to her dressing room door. “What happened with that clown was so not my fault.”

  “You hired him, right?” She pushed open the door, her gaze still on him as she walked into the small room. “I’d say that makes him your responsibility.”

  “First off, I didn’t hire him. He worked for free. I found his ad in—” He followed behind her, his gaze locked on her perky behind until she turned and halted so fast in front of him that he damned near ran her over. Her muffled scream jarred him back to reality. Acting on pure instinct and adrenaline, Dino grabbed her by the arm and yanked her behind him, using his own body to shield her as he pulled his gun from the holster at his waist and aimed straight ahead. “Freeze!’

  Except the room was empty. Empty besides them and a huge bouquet of white calla lilies, Jan’s favorite flower, drenched in bright-crimson blood.

  Fuck.

  Dino clicked on the safety of his Glock and shoved it back in the holster, noticing the horror in Jan’s eyes as they flicked from the flowers to the gun. He hated having to add to her angst over the flowers by pulling the gun, but it had been a gut reaction to her scream. He wouldn’t have done it differently, even knowing how she felt about guns—if someone had been in there hell-bent on harming her, the gun might have been the only thing to stop them.

  He stepped closer to inspect the gruesome gift. No card, no apparent marks or clues as to who left them or why.

  Yep. Escalation.

  Definite escalation.

  Jan’s choked sobs had him swiveling fast and gathering her into his arms without a second thought. He held her close and stroked her
hair while he murmured into her hair. “I’m here, sweetheart. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. I’ll protect you with my life, if that’s what it takes.”

  Through the open door into the lobby, a small crowd of people had gathered to gawk, including the receptionist. Dino scowled over at her and shouted, “Call the police. And tell Lou that Ms. Winters needs to see him right away.”

  “I’ve already called 9-1-1, and the police are on their way,” she said. “But Mr. Tanner is out for the rest of the day.”

  “Fine. Let me know when the police arrive.” Dino shut the door on the curious onlookers and pulled Jan over to the sofa against the wall. Once he had her settled on his lap, he did his best to calm his own rioting nerves and get his head clear. The police would need all the information they could get, and Jan was in no fit state to face them alone. And Lou. He was beginning to think that guy was more and more useless every day. All he seemed to do was berate Jan and take every chance he could get to make her life a living hell. Every chance he could when he wasn’t out wasting her money on expensive lunches and booze. It was almost like the guy had it out for her…

  Pissed, he managed to pull out his phone and hit the speed dial button for Rockford Security.

  His boss answered after the first ring.

  “Blake Rockford.”

  “We’ve got escalation.”

  “What happened?” Blake’s concern was evident in his tone. “Do you need me to come over?”

  “No. The police are on the way.” Jan shifted on his lap and burrowed deeper against him. He kissed the top of her head and tightened his arms around her as he glanced at the blood-drenched flowers on her vanity counter. “Someone left a rather unpleasant gift for Jan.”

  He described the scene while Blake took notes then confirmed what Dino had hoped to hear. “Okay. I’ll have our team follow up there after the police leave. Anything else?”

  “Yeah. I want you to do some additional checking on Jan’s manager, a guy named Lou Tanner. There’s something about him I don’t quite trust.”

  “Done.” Blake hesitated. “Listen, are you sure you don’t want me to come down there? It might help to have someone objective to—”