“You haven’t already?”
“No. I wanted to check with you first.”
“Call the police. I’ll be there in twenty.”
***
The damage was overwhelming. The intruder had disabled the alarm system at the electrical box then proceeded to destroy everything that wasn’t nailed down. The sheets on the bed were slashed, the mattress ripped open and the matting inside pulled out and scattered around the cavernous room. There was spray paint used to create multiple lewd pictures on the walls, most of them red and dripping like blood. The dressing rooms had been completely destroyed, the furnishings broken, the costumes cut and shredded. My office was the same, furniture smashed, the cushions on the couch ripped open, the filing cabinets open and their contents shredded or simply scattered across the floor.
But what really got me was the message that was written…six feet tall on a back wall.
“You’re mine. I will have you.”
I was sick to my stomach when I saw it.
The cops were no help. The moment they realized what we did there in the studio, they were more interested in my right to work than in what the intruder had done.
“Do you have a permit to film here?”
“Do you have a lease for this building?”
“Are you aware of city ordinance allowances for a business such as yours?”
It was ridiculous. Someone had just set my business back a week, maybe longer, and they wanted to know if I had my paperwork in order.
“Someone broke into my place of business. That’s against the law.”
“Yes, ma’am,” one of the cops said, eyeing me over the top of his notebook. “But we need to ask these questions.”
“Don’t you want to know about the damage to my property? Do you not see the spray paint on the walls, or the pieces of cloth scattered all over the floor? We’re damn lucky we didn’t have our cameras here!”
“If you’ll calm down, ma’am—”
“Calm down? You’re grilling me over my business permits when it’s pretty obvious what happened here. First they break into my house and now my place of business. And you’re doing nothing?”
Vincent moved between the cop and me. I caught the look of surprise on the cop’s face, but he had no reason to fear Vincent—except for the fact that he towered over the short, stout cop.
“The lady would simply like to know if you’ll be investigating this crime.”
“We’ll write out a report. But with cases like this, there’s little chance anything would come of an investigation.”
“Especially if you don’t investigate,” I said, leaning around Vincent. He grabbed my hip and pushed me back behind him even as the cop’s face registered anger.
“We’re not miracle workers. A break in like this…it’s usually a disgruntled employee. I’d suggest you start there.”
The cop handed Vincent a piece of paper with a case number on it and walked out, gesturing for his partner to follow.
“Quinn!”
Susie came running through the door around the cops. She threw her arms around me, pulling me into the world’s tightest bear hug.
“Coleman called me. When he described what he’d found…” She pulled back and stared into my face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. The studio, however…”
I turned so that she could see the full impact of what had happened. She took a step forward, then stopped, her hand pressed to her mouth.
“My God!”
“It’s bad. We’ll have to cancel production for the rest of the week.” I dragged my fingers through my hair, trying to wrap my mind around the complete destruction of my fledgling business. “Maybe next week, too.”
“What about the production staff? And the actors?”
“We’ll have to pay them a partial salary.”
Susie turned and stared at me. “Quinn…”
“It’s fine. I can do it. I just…I hope the insurance pays out.”
“It will.” Vincent moved up behind me. “I need to get you out of here.”
“I need to clean up. And I need to arrange for the furnishings to be replaced.”
“I can do that,” Susie said. “Coleman will help.”
“That’s not your job.”
“Quinn, you can’t stay here. We shouldn’t have come at all. But we need to go now.” Vincent touched my hip, tugging me close to him. “It’s not safe.”
“Neither is the house. Neither is Olivia’s school.” I turned, a feeling of desperation suddenly building in my chest. “Is there any safe place?”
“Away from here.” He made me look at him, his hand cupping my chin. “You need to listen to me and follow my instruction. Remember our deal?”
“Go,” Susie said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll take care of things.”
I found myself staring into Vincent’s eyes, those warm eyes that were fringed with such incredible lashes. There was something about the way he was looking at me that calmed the tension that had been building inside of me since I got Coleman’s call.
“Okay.” I slowly turned and hugged Susie. “Thank you.”
Vincent escorted me out of the building. The cops were gone, but there was a small group of people gathered in the parking lot, talking. Probably about the nature of the business that was located inside the building. I felt eyes on me as Vincent helped me into the SUV, more whispers behind hands.
“I guess my secret is out.”
“For the moment. The gossip will blow over.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
I sat back and ran my fingers through my hair, remembering how we’d been driven out of a business sector in Austin because some of our neighbors found out what we were doing inside the office building. It actually happened twice to me when I was working for Diamond Productions in Austin. And it was about to happen again. Only this time I was in charge.
We were conducting legal business. But people didn’t want to know where it was happening; they didn’t want details. They just wanted to be able to watch it in the privacy of their own homes.
Vincent didn’t say a word as we drove back across town to my empty house. I let us in, quickly inserting the proper code into the alarm system so that it wouldn’t start bleating at us. Then I dropped my bag and walked back to the kitchen, pulling a bottle of wine out of fridge.
“Little early, isn’t it?” Vincent asked.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
I took a long swallow, biting back angry tears that were burning my throat. I wanted to scream, to throw something. I wanted to cry, but it’d been so long since I allowed myself tears that I wasn’t sure I still knew how to go about it.
“Quinn…”
Vincent took the bottle of wine from my hands, taking my face between his hands. “Don’t let this guy win. Don’t let him get into your head.”
“I feel like I’ve been violated. Like my stepfather snuck into my bed again, you know?”
“I can’t know what that was like. But I understand your anger and frustration.”
“He’s playing with my life. My income! If this business goes under, I don’t know how I’ll pay for Olivia’s tuition at school, or how I’ll pay our bills when our savings runs out. This is my livelihood.”
“I know.”
“First they break into my house and soil my private space. And now my business. I can’t…I’m not going to just sit back and wait for them to hurt my daughter or someone else I care about.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Cole is watching Olivia, I’m here with you, and Marcus, another guy from Dragon, has been watching Susie for days now.”
“What?”
Vincent’s eyes softened as he studied my face. “Megan knew Susie was important to you, and they cleared her as a suspect, so she assigned Marcus to keep an eye on her. Just in case.”
“They checked out Susie as a suspect?”
“They checked out everyone who’s ever worked with you: Susie, Coleman, a dozen actors, and several dozen production assistants.”
The emotion suddenly went out of me like a bubble that hit the wrong edge of a needle. I sank into him, my arms slowly moving around his waist.
“Tell Megan thanks.”
“I will.”
“She knows about all this?”
“She does. She has someone checking out the security cameras.”
“But my cameras would have been disabled with the alarm system.”
“Not the cameras on the neighboring buildings. They might have caught something.”
He brushed the hair from my face, his fingers moving slowly along the curve of my jaw. Then he bent close.
“Trust me.”
Then he kissed me, his lips so soft against mine. I sighed, wrapping my arms around him as I submitted completely.
I did trust him. I still wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but I trusted him.
Chapter 13
Vincent
She melted against me, and I wanted to wrap myself around her, protect her from everything that could possibly hurt her. I hated that this was happening to her. But, again, if it wasn’t, I never would have met her.
I lost myself in her. I shouldn’t have. I should have noticed that she forgot to reset the alarm when we came in. But my hands were sliding under her blouse, and my fingers tips were pressing under the wire at the bottom of her bra. Our tongues were playing together, our temperatures rising back to the same heights they’d reached last night. Reality was something that only existed outside the bubble we were creating around each other.
She had her hands under my shirt, her fingers dancing over my ribs, my spine. She liked to press her fingers into my skin; she liked to use bruising force to pull me closer to her. And I loved it.
I loved the sense of possession that her touch created.
The front door slammed.
I jerked away even as Quinn tensed in my arms, her eyes wide with fear. I turned, brushing my light sport coat out of the way to get my gun out of its holster. I was about to pull it when a woman appeared out of the gloom of the hallways, a large layer cake in her hands.
“Beth!”
Quinn moved around me, rushing to her friend as though she thought I was going to shoot her.
“I didn’t realize you were home,” Beth said, her eyes moving from Quinn to me. There was something in her expression that belied her words, and that made me nervous.
“Come in. It’s okay,” Quinn said, stepping out of the way.
“How did you get in?” I asked.
“My key.” Beth dangled a set of keys from her fingers. “Quinn gave them to me when she moved in.”
“I did. In case she needed to get into the house for anything.”
“I brought you a cake.” Beth set the cake in the center of the table. “I couldn’t help seeing all those cop cars over here Friday night. And then you were gone all weekend. So I brought the cake over to sort of cheer you up.”
“Thank you!”
Quinn offered her a hug, and Beth was clearly excited to get it. She bent low to hug Quinn tightly, almost like a lover. Then she shot me a look that made me wonder what was really going on in that head of hers. She seemed like a mild-mannered woman, but…
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness,” Quinn said. “Olivia will love this cake!”
“Is she at school?”
“Yes.”
“You make sure and save her a nice, big piece.” Beth smiled, but again I was struck by something odd in her smile. And the fact that she shot a glance at me while she was smiling.
There was something odd about this woman.
Quinn walked her to the door, chatting about the cake. She was excited that someone would do something so kind for her. I leaned against the wall and watched, ready to pull my gun the moment it appeared necessary. They hugged again, Beth shooting me one last dirty look over the top of Quinn’s head, and then she was gone.
“Cake!” Quinn said, rubbing her hands together as she came into the kitchen, snatching a knife off the magnetic strip.
“Does she often just walk into your house like that?”
“I gave her the keys like a month after we moved in so that she could bring the mail in while Olivia and I were in Austin settling the last of our business there. She insisted, said it was the least she could do as my neighbor. She’s had them ever since.”
“And you’re not worried about it?”
Quinn shrugged. “She sits with Olivia after school every day and makes sure she does her homework. She’s a friend.”
I nodded, watching her slice through the cake despite the fact that it was only nine in the morning, a little too early for sweets. But then she stopped, disappointed dripping from her pretty face.
“What?”
“It’s got a peanut butter filling.”
I walked over, peeking at the slice she’d cut. Sure enough, the scent of peanut butter was strong enough that I could smell it from a foot away.
“Does she know you’re allergic?”
“Yeah. I told her when we first met.”
Connections started making themselves in my head. The looks Beth shot me, the keys, the message, you’re mine. And this.
“Who would eat this cake if you couldn’t have it?”
“Olivia.”
“Yeah.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pressed the speed dial that would connect me with Dragon offices.
“Vulture.”
Sam answered after a few clicks and rings.
“What can I do for you, Vincent?”
“Do we have some sort of lab that can test a piece of cake for poisons?”
“Sure. Do you have a sample?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll send someone over.”
“Poison?” Quinn stared at me, as though she suddenly didn’t recognize me. “What are you talking about?”
“Think about it. Why would she bring over a cake she knows you can’t eat?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she forgot.”
“Or she didn’t want you to eat it. She wanted Olivia and me to eat it.”
“Why? Why would she want to hurt you or Olivia? She adores Olivia.”
“But Olivia’s in the way. Just like I am.”
She tilted her head slightly. I could see the war going on inside of her. She didn’t want to believe it.
“I might be wrong,” I said, moving close to touch her. “I hope I am. It just…it seems suspicious.”
“You are wrong.”
“Then the test will prove it.”
She moved into me, pressed her face to my chest. “She’s my friend.”
“I know.” I kissed the top of her head. “It’s been a rough day already, hasn’t it?”
She sighed hard against my chest. Then she pulled back and looked up at me.
“Vulture?”
“It’s a code name. Makes it simpler to get through to the right people when I call in to the office.”
“Seems appropriate. A vulture often symbolizes purification. Rebirth. I think that’s something that we both want. A new beginning.”
“How do you know that?”
She laughed. “I read. A lot. Lot of down time on a movie set.”
I brushed my fingers over the side of her face. “You are full of surprises.”
She reached up and kissed me gently. “You have no idea.”
I groaned, finding it nearly impossible to resist the urge to pick her up and carry her upstairs. But her safety had to come first.
I gently extracted myself from her just as her cellphone rang. She was immediately engaged in a conversation with Susie, slipping out the new French doors Megan’s team had put in to replace the flimsy ones that used to be in this room, to stand on the back deck. I bagged up the piece of cake and shoved the rest down the garbage disposal. Then I wipe
d down the table and sink. I didn’t want to take any chances.
I looked up and watched Quinn talk, tension written all over her as she stood casually against a rail, her hand in her pocket. She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.
I hoped, for her sake, that I was right. That it was Beth. But I also found myself hoping I was wrong, not just to save her from the loss of a friend, but because the longer it took us to find the real stalker, the longer I could stay here, at her side. But I couldn’t be selfish. Not this time.
Chapter 14
Quinn
“She’s such a wonderful little girl.”
I glanced over at Olivia where she was reading a book to PJ, Cole’s nephew. PJ was running around, smacking the book with a toy truck in an attempt to get Olivia’s attention. But Olivia continued on, not really paying much attention to the toddler.
“Your son is beautiful.”
Amber smiled, her cheeks glowing with a lovely blush. She was a pretty girl, about my height with light brown hair. And she was loved. It was so obvious in the way she and Cole looked at each other that they were deeply in love. I was almost jealous. But it also filled me with hope. If they could find love like this, maybe it was possible for me, too.
When Cole invited us over to his place for dinner, I didn’t really want to come. It was a little awkward. Olivia and I were clients of Dragon, not friends. But now I was glad we’d come.
“It goes by so quickly, doesn’t it?”
“It does. Just yesterday he was waking me up in the middle of the night, wanting to nurse. Now he wants to do everything for himself.”
“I remember. Olivia still insists on doing most things herself.”
Amber groaned. “So it doesn’t change?”
“No. Sorry.”
She just shook her head, a mock sadness in her eyes. But she was so clearly proud and in love with her child that it overshadowed everything else. I could remember that. In fact, I still felt that way when I looked at Olivia.
Vincent and Cole came into the room, platters of food in their hands.
“It’s time, Olivia,” Vincent called.
She immediately jumped up, nearly knocking the baby over in her rush to come to the table. Cole set down his burden and went to scoop PJ up in his arms. PJ laughed as Cole swung him up toward the ceiling and then caught him. I saw fear cross Amber’s face, but Cole was laughing. So was Olivia.
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