Page 7 of Deadmen's Queen

“One more thing,” I said, glancing through the window at Paige’s figure and lowering my voice. “I need you to find out the name of the main night watchman for her building and send me his name and address.”

“The night watchman?”

“The letters were delivered under her door at night. He let the fucker walk right past him. If Paige hadn’t stayed at the Club last night, Tris…”

“You’ll have it in ten,” he said, hanging up.

I walked round to the driver's side and opened the door. Paige looked up at me, clearly startled. I climbed in and shut the door, looking over at her. Her body was still shaking, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

“You're safe now,” I assured her, reaching out and taking her trembling hand in mine. “No one will ever hurt you.”

“You can't promise that,” she whispered, pulling away from me as hot tears spilled down her face.

“I can and I do,” I asserted firmly.

She swallowed hard, trying to compose herself. In response, I squeezed her hand reassuringly and turned on the engine.

As we pulled out onto the street, my mind was already whirring with plans and possibilities. Whoever had done this had made a big mistake. They had violated Paige's space, destroyed her possessions, and threatened her safety. My throat tightened with the thought of them touching her, hurting her. She was one of us, our Persephone, and no one fucked with one of ours. I took a deep breath, trying to force down the rage inside. I hated feeling out of control, and not knowing who was behind this was fucking with my head.

First things first, we needed to establish some ground rules.

“This is going to change a few things, Paige.” I told her as I drove to the other side of campus. “You can't go back to your dorm. It's not safe. So, like I told Kate, you’re going to stay with us. We have a spare room, it's secure, and there will always be someone around.”

Paige looked like she was about to argue, but then she just nodded, seemingly too overwhelmed to put up a fight.

“Okay,” she agreed quietly.

“We’ll get your stuff cleaned up and brought over as soon as we can,” I added. “But I have some clothes in your size already that I bought when we picked you. They’re a bit more… sophisticated than what you’d normally wear though. But it’s just for now.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

I looked over at her. “Paige? You ok?”

“I... I’m scared,” she confessed in a whisper so light I almost missed it.

“I'll take care of it,” I assured her fiercely. “He won’t be able to get anywhere near you, and we’ll find him, Paige.”

“But the police…”

“Don’t have the resources I have, sweet girl. Trust me.”

We drove in silence for a few minutes, as I ran over the situation in my head. Notes under the door, so he was probably waiting for students to enter the dorm, then slipping in after them. Or he knew the key code. But how did he get in tonight? Unless…

“Paige?” I asked gently. She looked over at me, her face still pale, but her eyes a little more focused. “I don’t suppose your keys have gone missing at all recently? Have you needed to go and get a replacement at all?”

She shook her head. “No, I just keep them in my bag the whole time. Why?”

“There was no sign of forced entry at your door and the window was locked. I think he’s managed to get a copy of your key somehow. Or the master key.”

I didn’t think her face could go any paler, but she went white. “You think he had a key? So he could have been in my room at any time?”

I hadn’t considered that till now, but my insides turned over at the thought of someone letting themselves into her room and touching her things, maybe even standing watching her while she slept. I felt cold and sick at the thought.

“It’s a possibility,” I said, trying not to give away how thrown I was by her realisation.

“Bast... if he had a key, then he could have come inside when he delivered those envelopes. He could have touched my things… oh God, he could’ve been watching me sleep. Anytime I was there alone..."” Paige's voice trailed off, terror in her eyes. We were less than a minute from the house, or I would have pulled over then and there to take her in my arms. She put her hand to her mouth and gripped the arm rest with the other one. I could see her shaking.

“Nearly there, baby girl,” I murmured.

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