Page 110 of Lost in the Moonlight

“You really want to end up in prison? You want people to die because of some goddamn obsession? Because you didn’t get what you wanted from me?”

“I didn’t do anything!” she shouted. She inhaled sharply, calming herself like she always had in the middle of an argument. “But I may know who’s behind this. Sort of.”

“Of course you do!”

“Not because I hired them! Just listen to me for two seconds.”

“I’m putting you on speaker so the head of my security can hear,” I told her. “Just fucking tell me the truth!”

I turned up the volume as Felicity said, “I told you I was being stalked, and I was, even though you didn’t believe me! He said he was the only person who deserved the fairy tale of me. And after what happened in St. Micah, he said you didn’t deserve any fairy tale at all when you’d caused so much pain to me and others. He swore you wouldn’t get a happy ending.”

“Those were your words. You said those to me!”

“I was so pissed at you and scared. And when you didn’t seem to give a shit what was happening, I tossed the same ones at you.”

“That was months ago!”

“I got another note earlier this week. He said he’d kill you for rejecting me as a way of proving how much he loved me. He insisted I belonged with him and only him.”

“And you didn’t tell me,” I hissed.

“I didn’t know you’d declined Secret Service protection. How was I supposed to know you’d left yourself vulnerable?”

She twisted it back on me. As if this was my fault, and maybe, because I was already thinking similar thoughts, her arrow landed home.

“Who is it?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. My manager just threw the most recent note in a bag with all the other hate mail I’m gettingbecause of you.”

“So because you’re angry and getting some ugly letters, you figured it was okay not to warn me? For me to be killed? For people around me to be hurt?”

“No! I just thought the letter was all bluster.”

I didn’t believe her, and I was positive Axel didn’t either if the anger in the man’s eyes said anything. Felicity Bradshaw would have been happy if I’d turned up dead. Whether or not she’d virtually pulled the trigger by hiring someone was a different story.

“This is Axel Garner, Lincoln’s security,” Axel said. “We need anything you still have. A photo of the letters for now, but I’d prefer to have the actual ones sent to me. I’ll give you the location to mail them.”

“You’ll have to talk to Richard, my manager. He has it all now.”

“Give me his number,” Axel demanded.

She rattled it off, and after he’d stepped aside to make the call, I said, “You’re responsible for this.” Maybe it was the truth or maybe I just wanted it to be true, so I wouldn’t have to shoulder one more regret.

“I didn’t do this,” she insisted. “So please, can you keep me out of it? My career can’t handle another hit.”

A sound of pure fury erupted from my chest. “Your career? How about my life? How about Willow’s life?”

“Who’s Willow?”

Her voice turned icy. She didn’t care. She’d never really cared, which was why I’d never felt anything for her in return. Felicity Bradshaw was a shell. An empty human being who wouldn’t know a true emotion if it hit her in the face. It was also why the pinnacle of success she longed for would forever be out of her reach.

“If something happens before we catch this guy, it’s on you,” I snarled, and then I hung up.

Axel came back into the room. “Her manager confirms she’s been getting creepy notes for several years, and that the latest one came earlier this week.”

I refused to feel guilty for anything related to Felicity. If she’d had an actual stalker, it should have given her even more reason not to stalk me. But I was also sure that in her head, Felicity could twist the two events so they weren’t anything alike.

When I said nothing, Axel continued, “He also said he hadn’t shown Felicity the image that came with the note. But he forwarded it to me. It’s a picture of you and Willow with Xs on your faces.”

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