Page 9 of You Found Me

The “for a change” hung unsaid in the air, along with a healthy dose of disapproval.

Della bristled at once again feeling like the selfish prick of the family, but dammit, it was her life, wasn’t it?

Except it wasn’t.

It was Piper’s and Mattie’s and Lizzie’s, and now…the baby. Her niece or nephew.

Della took in a deep breath and held it. She didn’t want to be the cause of yet another family argument. She let the breath out, slow and deliberate.

“Della.” Mattie rose from the couch to put a soft hand on her shoulder. “Aren’t you scared? Just a little?”

Piper stood in front of Della with that look she’d used since they were kids, the one that talked Della into doing things she didn’t want to do, like the dishes. “What’s so horrible about contacting this Donovan guy and asking him to do a risk assessment? In the meantime, you can move out of that hotel and into my house. The security was set up by Romi, so you know it’s solid.”

Piper’s suggestion sounded reasonable and logical and not at all heavy-handed, which made Della want to put her foot down even more.

“Please, Della?” Lizzie asked in a voice so quiet that it grabbed Della’s attention more than all the shouting in the world could have. “Please let us keep you safe?”

“Oh, come on,” Della swallowed, hard, and tried to avoid everyone’s gaze. “That’s not playing fair. You’re making a baby and using it against me.”

Lizzie sniffed, but a smile quirked her lips up a little.

Piper’s eyes glinted with determination.

Mattie’s face had gone blank. She only looked like that when she was really, really upset.

Her sisters were gathered around her, determined to protect her despite herself.

This was what family did. They had your back, even when you didn’t have your own. It was what she loved the most about them, even if it was a real pain in the ass sometimes.

“Fine,” Della said, drawing the word out a little longer than necessary. “Let’s give him a call. But we’re going to do a live stream into the party so we can still tell them thank you in real time. And then we can go to Piper’s to toast the baby.”

As people came in to set up the equipment for the live stream, Della made her way to the shower. Now that she had a quiet space to think and hot water to hide under, a line from the letter twisted around in her head.

I see how alone you are.

She wasn’t alone.

Whoever wrote that letter was dead wrong. She wasn’t alone and she wasn’t lonely.

The unwanted image of Renic and Lizzie gazing at each other with that we-have-a-secret twinkle in their eyes flashed through her mind.

She was surrounded by people most of the time, but…she didn’t have that.

All she had was a stalker.

A shiver crawled up and down her spine, despite the hot water.

Chapter Two

When the phone rang, Donovan Ward almost didn’t answer. It was after one in the morning, the caller was unknown, and it was a New York number. All of his current clients were California residents, none had anything going in the middle of the night, and he didn’t have any future potential clients anywhere east of Nevada.

Yet.

But a business didn’t get off the ground by ignoring phone calls.

Three minutes after he’d hung up, he was dressed and waking up his team. They had a new client, and they had work to do.

He strode through the door of his tiny agency office a few hours later for the debrief with caffeine, muffins, and determination. As the founder, owner, and CEO of Storm Security, he knew the value of a well-fed team. Especially when he asked night owls to arrive at the crack of dawn.

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