by K. M. Scott
As if fate had decided to be on their side, the doorman and security guard were preoccupied in some argument about some game the night before, so the two women walked right out the front door without anyone asking a single question. They rushed out onto the sidewalk and saw the driver standing by the black Town Car waiting for them.
“Oh, my God, Alexis! We did it!” Lauren squealed as they ran toward the car.
“Of course we did. We’re two clever women!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Alexis saw a man rush up toward them. She turned in fear and saw one of the paparazzi next to her snapping a picture. Covering her face with her hand, she had a feeling of relief that it was only a photographer and not her stalker.
“Alexis! Alexis! Where are you going? How do you like New York City? How long will you be here?”
The driver opened the back passenger door for them as more paparazzi began to show up to pepper her with questions. As they crowded her and snapped their pictures, Alexis and Lauren climbed into the backseat. Seconds later, the car sped away as they giggled about how exciting the whole thing had been.
“Atlantic City, here we come!” Alexis said as she flopped back onto the seat, happy to once again be free.
Chapter Eight
For the fourth time, Carla explained how her aunt had a dream that Alexis might be in danger from someone six months ago. The woman seemed to think her relative had some kind of prophetic powers or something that helped her predict events. Her claim sounded like a pretty general one that could be made about virtually anyone, especially an actress as famous as Alexis.
Hunter watched as her dark eyes darted back and forth between him and the direction of Alexis’s room. He suspected she worried at any moment her boss might bellow and she’d have to go running.
“And then when she began getting the letters, my aunt told me that I should be careful too. She said one night she woke up in a cold sweat because she had seen me instead of Alexis as the victim in the dream. I swear, she sounded like she’d seen a ghost when she called me that morning,” Carla said, flailing her hands as she spoke.
“I don’t think you have to worry, Carla. I’m not going to let anyone get hurt. I promise you that.”
“But you’re only here to protect Alexis. I know that. She’s the star. I’m just some girl who works for her. What if someone came after me or Lauren? I worry that we’d be vulnerable and no one would want to help us.”
What had gotten her so excited about this? Had another letter come?
The thought of that made him pay attention suddenly. “Carla, did Alexis get another letter or package from the stalker?”
She shook her head quickly so her long black hair swung around her head. “No, no. She’s fine. She didn’t get anything since that snow globe. No, I’m just worried that my aunt is right.”
“Well, I swear to you there’s nothing to worry about. I promise that I plan to find this stalker and stop him. You don’t have to worry, and if anything happens to you or Lauren, I won’t stand idly by. I’m not going to let any of you get hurt.”
He turned to leave, but Carla’s hand clamped down on his forearm. Looking back at her, he saw real fear in her eyes.
“Wait! I want to show you something.”
Hunter’s suspicious mind began to wonder if Carla had something to do with the stalker. She seemed far too nervous and frightened, but about what?
“What’s wrong?”
Tugging on his arm to pull him toward her bedroom, she said, “In my room. The windows.”
He let her take him into the room as she explained, “I want you to look at them. To make sure no one can break in.”
“Break in? Into a penthouse? We’re nineteen floors up. Who’s breaking in? Spiderman? Some other superhero?” he asked, only slightly kidding with the superhero crack.
She ignored his joke and walked him over to the window on the far wall. Opening it toward her, she shook it frantically. “I don’t think there’s even a lock on it. Is that safe?”
As much as he didn’t think a window this high up would be an issue, he humored her and pretended to examine it. After a few seconds, he smiled. “I think it’s safe. No need to worry.”
Carla looked at her cell phone and then back at him. “Okay. I just wanted to be sure. I better go check to see if Alexis has anything she wants me to do this morning. She’s been very busy so far, so I’m sure she does.”
Just as she wanted him so badly to check out the window in her room, now she practically pushed him out into the hallway. Then without saying another word, she ran away down the hall, leaving him confused about the whole thing.
Had all that really been necessary?
Hunter thought about it and wondered if she’d been trying to flirt with him. At least that made some sense. Worrying about someone scaling a New York City high rise apartment building to break in through a bedroom window hundreds of feet up didn’t.
As all of that rambled around his brain, he headed to the kitchen to get another cup of coffee. Maybe more caffeine would help him understand these people. He stood at the counter and listened to Carla talking to Alexis through her bedroom door and decided he was surrounded by crazy people. One minute Alexis was buying an entire bedroom set and moving all her office furniture out so he could have a room to stay in, and the next minute she was hiding out in her room and forcing her assistant to talk to her through a door.
“Must be a Hollywood thing,” he said, knowing all too well how bizarre movie stars could be.
He did have to admit that what she did for him with the bedroom after seeing him sleeping on the couch last night had been a really nice gesture.
“Alexis, talk to me. What’s wrong?” Carla asked.
Hunter listened but heard no response.
Was she having a temper tantrum?
“Honey, is Lauren in there with you?”
At that moment, Hunter wished Gideon or Xavier had been the one chosen for this assignment. He didn’t work well in a nuthouse. If only he was back at the estate and one of them had to deal with this nonsense.
“Just tell me what you need. Tell me and I’ll do whatever you want,” Carla said, pleading with her employer.
Hunter had listened to enough of this. He needed to find some peace and quiet. Thankfully, he had a room now he could escape to.
One step out of the kitchen told him it wouldn’t be easy getting to that room, however, since the bodyguards had been acting like moving men again and had piled up Alexis’s entire office in the hallway. They stood in front of all the furniture talking, as if the scene in front of them seemed normal.
“We got all the furniture out of the other bedroom. Alexis was in a big hurry, so I want to tell her we got it done.”
Looking over the desk and chair stacked up against the wall, Hunter wondered why Carla didn’t tell her they’d finished or ask Alexis why she wanted everything out in the hallway. The bodyguards began walking toward the elevator, squeezing past Hunter as he stood in the doorway to the kitchen.
Curious why Kyle didn’t stop at Alexis’s room, he said, “You’re going the wrong way. She’s in her room.”
The bodyguard looked confused. “Oh yeah? I guess she’s done with the furniture downstairs then. Where’d they put it?”
Hunter pointed in the direction of his room. “Right in there.”
Kyle looked around and then shook his head. “No, I know about that furniture. We moved that in early this morning. She told Kevin she had another delivery coming, so after having us move everything in her office out of that room and into one of the bedrooms, she decided she wanted it all out of there and into the hallway instead. She said she was in a big hurry too.”
Damn, she liked to abuse these poor men. Hunter was thankful he wasn’t one of her lapdogs.
“Sounds like a lot of work,” he mumbled as he started to make his way toward his room.
The bodyguard headed toward the elevator but returned a few seconds later to as
k Carla, “She’s in there now? Where’s the furniture that was supposed to be delivered?”
Hunter listened for Carla’s answer, curious why there was so much confusion about a simple thing like a furniture delivery, but she didn’t say a thing. He made his way down toward Alexis’s room and waited for her to ask the bodyguard’s question through the door, but she didn’t do that either.
Something felt very wrong about this.
Confusion bred danger, and having all these people moving around made Hunter uncomfortable. All these deliveries meant strangers showing up and possibly entering the apartment.
He hurried toward the elevator and rode down to the main floor to find out exactly when this new furniture would be brought up. The doorman and security guard stood at their post just inside the front door talking like usual.
“Hey, I need to know when the second furniture delivery arrives. Alexis said she was in a hurry for her guys to move things around up there, so it should be any time. Can you check what time she gave you?”
The doorman, an elderly man called Chambers with silver hair and a long serious face, stared at Hunter. “Another delivery?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. How does anyone fit that much furniture in one penthouse? Trust me. It’s already piling up in the hallways up there,” Hunter said, not even trying to hide his disgust.
How the hell had he been relegated to furniture delivery scheduler for some movie star?
The doorman flipped through the papers on the desk in front of him and then looked up at Hunter. “I don’t have a second delivery, sir. Just the one earlier this morning. Miss Marchand didn’t mention anything about another delivery when she left earlier either.”
Hunter stood there stunned. Left? Why is Carla talking to her bedroom door then?
“When did she leave?”
“Right before nine. She and her assistant.”
“Do you know where they were going?” he asked, his concern growing by leaps and bounds at every passing second.
“I don’t know, sir. We were talking and saw them walk out and get into a car. Then they drove away.”
Hunter turned to rush back up to the penthouse, but the doorman stopped him. “Sir, Miss Marchand received a letter right after she left.”
Stopping dead in his tracks, he spun around. “A letter? Who brought it? Does the mail get here this early in the morning?”
The doorman held it up for Hunter to see. “No, it didn’t come through the post office. This letter was hand delivered.”
At that moment, Hunter’s blood felt like it ran cold. A hand delivered letter? Had the stalker been here at the building today?
“Did you see who delivered it?” he asked as he took the white envelope from the doorman. “Can you give me a description of the person?”
He looked over at the security guard for some help, but he just shook his head. “No, I’m sorry sir. We were talking and then someone else in the building had a bit of an issue with a delivery, so we got tied up. We, unfortunately, didn’t see anyone.”
Damnit! If this letter was from the stalker, he or she had gotten entirely too close to Alexis. Christ, they may have been right next to her as she left to go God only knew where.
Hunter turned and raced through the lobby toward the elevator. Frantically pressing the button to return to the penthouse, he tried to keep calm as every fiber of his being raged at Alexis and Lauren’s childish bullshit. The whole ride up, he stewed over Alexis leaving without telling him, and as each floor passed, he realized the whole thing with Carla earlier was just a way to distract him so the two of them could sneak out.
The elevator reached the top floor, and before the doors had even opened all the way, Hunter yelled, “Carla! Tell me where they went!”
She still stood outside Alexis’s bedroom door acting like there was someone on the other side. He stormed down the hallway getting angrier with each step at seeing her still pretending. By the time he reached her, she stared at him with wide eyes filled with fear.
“I need to know where she went, Carla. Someone’s stalking her and might see her alone and unprotected. She’s in danger.”
Carla’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked down, avoiding his gaze. “I didn’t know. She told me to keep you busy.”
“Why? Where did she go, Carla?” he bellowed, tired of the games these people insisted on playing.
She looked up at him and sobbed, “Atlantic City.”
Fucking Atlantic City! Alexis and Lauren alone without any protection in fucking Atlantic City.
God only knew how many people might have access to her there. The stalker could very well find her and Lauren all alone without even a single bodyguard there to protect her.
Hunter hurried to his room to get his cell. He needed her manager’s help on this. He knew her better than anyone. Anyone but Lauren.
“Paul, I need a car right now. Alexis snuck out with Lauren and they’re on their way to Atlantic City right now. They’ve got about an hour head start.”
“Jesus Christ! Atlantic City? Okay, I got this. I’ll have a car there in less than thirty. Damnit, Lexi!” Paul said in utter frustration.
“Any idea why she went there?” Hunter asked. “Does she know someone there she’s going to see?”
“No. I don’t know why anyone would want to go to Atlantic City, to be honest.”
“Maybe the beach?”
Paul sighed. “Maybe. She does miss living out in LA so close to the beach. Hell, she might want to gamble for all I know. What I don’t understand is why she didn’t just tell all of you. Why put herself in danger like this?”
“I have no idea. I just know the longer she and Lauren are alone, the bigger chance there is that someone could get to them. Someone like the guy stalking her. Just get me that car so I can find her before he does.”
“Got it. I’ll have it there in a few.”
Hunter tossed his phone onto his bed and began to pace back and forth. Why the hell had she done something so reckless and stupid? He thought they’d connected on some level with their conversation during the night and then with the bedroom surprise. What the hell had happened to make her act like this?
Then he looked down at the envelope in his hand and knew this little stunt of hers could be much worse. Carefully, he opened the flap and slid the letter out. Ordinarily, he would have preferred to have gloves on to preserve any fingerprints, but if the LAPD hadn’t found any on the previous letters, he had no reason to think there would be any on this new one.
Laying it flat on his dresser, his heart sank at the sight of letters jaggedly cut out from magazines in the stalker’s latest letter to her.
I HOPE YOU’RE LOVING NEW YORK AS MUCH AS I AM. I LIKE LA BETTER, THOUGH. WHEN ARE WE GOING BACK THERE, ALEXIS? SEE YOU SOON.
Had the stalker been in LA when she lived there and moved here when she did? He flipped over the envelope and saw no postmark, so he had no way of knowing where the stalker was now.
If only the doorman and the security guard downstairs in the lobby hadn’t been so fucking interested in talking about whatever idiotic topic they obsessed about that day, they might have been able to tell him what the person who delivered the letter looked like. Were they a male or female? Young or old? Was it the stalker himself or had he or she given it to someone else, say a delivery service, to drop off?
And even more, if Alexis hadn’t duped her bodyguards to sneak out, those men may have seen someone drop the letter off. What the hell was wrong with her?
He didn’t have the answers to any of his questions. All he knew was every minute she didn’t have anyone protecting her, she was in real danger that her stalker would find her. The thought of that happening made his stomach twist into a knot.
And not just because Persephone would have his head if he lost a client.
Chapter Nine
The car stopped about a block away from the Boardwalk and the driver looked up at the rear view mirror. Smiling, he said, “We’re here
, miss. You said you wanted to get as close to the beach as possible, so here we are.”
Alexis looked out the window and saw the Boardwalk in the distance. Never before had she been so excited to see something so ordinary. She’d seen boardwalks before in California, but this one held a special feeling for her because it symbolized her first attempt at breaking free.
Free from her stalker. Free from her home. Free from everyone’s rules about how she was supposed to act now that she might be in danger.
She didn’t want to think about any of that today, though. This day was for fun with her best friend.
Turning to look at Lauren, she smiled in anticipation. “You ready?”
She nodded and straightened Alexis’s long brown wig. “I guess. I’ll follow you.”
“We’ll be back at this spot at three o’clock, Jeff. See you then!”
“Yes, miss,” he said as they piled out of the backseat into the sunny day that awaited them.
The two women bolted toward their destination, their bags on their shoulders bouncing around as they ran. Alexis hadn’t felt this free in forever. At least since she left modeling for acting. She loved the sense of independence that rushed through her as she and Lauren ran up the little street leading to the Boardwalk.
“The first thing I want to do is bury my feet in the sand!” she said with a giggle. “I need to feel the sand against my skin again.”
“Alexis, slow down!” Lauren cried as she fell behind. “I’m not in shape like you are.”
She stopped just as she reached the stairs to the Boardwalk and waited for her friend. Alexis didn’t want to stop for anything, but for Lauren, she’d slow down a little.
Looking up, she watched people’s feet and legs as they walked by. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, anxious to get moving again, turning to see where Lauren could be. Still a few hundred yards away, she walked far too slowly for Alexis.
“Come on! We only have four hours!” she yelled to her.
“I’m coming. Give me a minute.”