Page 33 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 2

“Yeah, of course. And get this, she lives with some biker, who was none too happy about the space above his garage being broken into. Now his entire club is on the prowl. It was a shit show…” He groaned once more. “Where the fuck is she?” he said under his breath, and I could hear a door opening and then another deep sigh.

“You find her?” I croaked.

“Yeah, she’s asleep on the couch. Why she moved there, I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. Is everything good with Emily?”

“Absolutely perfect. She’s eating crepes with Christo in the kitchen right now. Do you want to talk to her?” I asked, my mind running a mile a minute about all he’d shared.

“No, I’ll call a little later, if you don’t mind. After I’ve taken some ibuprofen, fed my fiancée, and touched base with the cops and her biker brother.”

“Biker brother?” I scoured my mind for information about Maia and then remembered I’d had Christo look into a man named Sam that Maia rented from years ago. We’d exchanged pleasantries a few times when I brought Maia home from dinner or lunch, depending on the time of day. He’d often be on his motorcycle or working on one in his garage when we arrived. “Oh, that’s right. He’s connected to a rather intense motorcycle club, but they’ve never done anything other than help Maia in their own way.”

“Yeah, well, now they want to help Maia by finding and doing away with the asshole that broke into her home and left a scary message on her wall.”

“A scary message?” My mouth went dry. “What did it say?”

Rhodes cleared his throat. “It’s not something you need to be concerned with. I’ve got it covered. Just take care of Em, okay?”

“No, Rhodes. I need to know. What was the message?” I demanded, a frantic rush of adrenaline roaring to the surface. “I, too, received a threatening note before we left Las Vegas.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about this, before you hightailed your ass thousands of miles away with my daughter?” he barked, anger suffusing his tone.

“I-I…I’m sorry. Christophe said this type of thing happens with individuals who are as wealthy as we are. He’s handling it, and it was only a note. Our home here in France was checked and the police in Las Vegas were notified too.”

“Fuck me. What did it say? I’ll send you a photo of the message and the pics I took of her place so Christophe can share with his contacts.”

“Um, it said something about me ruining their life and them ruining mine.” My voice shook.

Rhodes sucked in a hissing breath. “It’s the same fucking person, Alana. Check your text,” he growled, sounding furious.

My phone beeped, and I put it on speaker then went to my messages, clicking on the first one. There, in thick black spray paint, was the message.

SHE RUINED MY LIFE

NOW I RUIN YOURS

I covered my mouth as a sob tried to escape, and my body hunched over until my knees were so weak, I slumped to the couch.

“Alana! What’s wrong?” I heard Christo as if from far away in the distance. Sound wove in and out as he snatched the phone from my hand.

I heard words but didn’t understand them. I felt a hand on my neck and vaguely recognized the scent of Christo’s cologne. I could dimly hear my husband speaking, but it was as though his words were being said through a pillow, garbled and indiscernible.

The last thing I heard was, “I’ll be in touch,” before Christophe’s face was directly in front of mine. He spoke rapid fire French demanding I breathe with him. I did as he bade, until I slowly started to come back to my surroundings.

“Maia was threatened,” I blurted through my tears.

Christophe nodded and wiped my tears away but more replaced them. “Rhodes and I have it covered.”

“Why is this happening?” I gulped, my bottom lip trembling with the effort to be strong yet failing miserably.

“I don’t know. But we will figure it out. Now I need you to be strong,mon coeur. We have a little lady that needs us right now. She does not need to be scared, and if she sees you like this, she will be.”

I licked my lips, tasting my tears, and nodded. He wiped more of them away, and I cleared my throat.

He handed me the cup of tea, and I took a few sips before I felt capable of holding the cup on my own. “Okay, I’ve got it.Merci.”

He reached for my hand and helped me stand. “Why don’t you shower and get ready for bed, then come down for dinner when you feel more like yourself.”

“Okay, I will.” I answered on autopilot as the image of Maia’s apartment and those horrifying words invaded my mind over and over. I winced as I rubbed the tension at the back of my neck and took the stairs to our bedroom.

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