Page 54 of Claiming Veronica

Me: You okay?

Veronica: Bored. And maybe a little worried about Reed.

I didn’t want Veronica to worry about Reed or Reed’s situation. That was something that I would take care of. Killing someone wasn’t new to me, and while I was hoping I wouldn’t have to chase them around, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Me: I’ll handle it. You find anything?

Veronica: Not yet. Still looking.

I didn’t respond immediately, feeling the familiar mix of protectiveness and frustration.

Maxim drifted back toward me, his voice low as he glanced at the phone in my hand. “Ronnie, find anything?”

“Not yet,” I muttered, my jaw tightening. “She will, though.”

Maxim’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Ronnie will find him, and then we’ll handle him. He won’t get anywhere near her again. Reed can go back to her little life.” His tone was as cold as ice, and I knew he meant it. When Maxim Volkov made a decision, it was final. Reed wasn’t meant for lives like ours.

I nodded, my focus shifting to the scenery and thoughts of Veronica. My mind always seemed drawn back to where I left my heart — with my little liar, my moon goddess.

Chapter 27

Veronica

Ityped furiously, eyes locked on the screen. The house was almost too quiet, but I didn’t mind. I preferred it this way when I was deep into something. Reed sat beside me, her knees tucked to her chest, staring at my screen like she hoped it would magically spit out an answer. We’d been at it for hours now, combing through data, message boards, and social media trails to find something—anything—about this Doug guy.

The creepy stalker who had freaked Reed out.

“I don’t get it,” Reed muttered, her voice tight with frustration. “He’s not some criminal mastermind. He’s just... normal.”

“Which makes it worse,” I replied, not looking up from my screen.

Doug Townsend appeared to be a generic everyday guy with some freakish tendencies. I’d tracked him to the hotel where Reed worked at briefly, which was an absolute dive. Not going to lie — I was pretty pissed she worked there at all, but I’d respect the fact that she wouldn’t take my money. He looked like he was a penny pincher. He drove a used car on its last legs, had a studio apartment in Las Vegas, and had traveled to Sacramento for work.

“Normal guys don’t obsessively track your every move and then buy a ticket to Arizona.”

Reed flinched, her eyes darting to me. “You found that out?”

“Yeah, babe,” I smirked, leaning back in my chair and tapping the edge of my keyboard. “Pulled up his email history. He’s not exactly careful with his security. Doesn’t even use two-factor authentication.”

Doug appeared to be pretty dumb, which was a bonus for me. He was decent-looking if you liked a guy who looked like he worked at Office Max, wore socks to bed, and collected cat fur. However, he seemed like a creep. Reed said he gave off bad vibes.

I refused to see the irony of her situation versus mine. Eli did not give bad vibes or look like heworked at Office Max. Granted, he obsessively tracked my every move and stalked me. The irony was there.

She stared at me for a moment, then laughed. “You’re terrifying, you know that?”

I shot her a grin before returning to my screen, my fingers dancing across the keys again. It was funny—this guy, Doug, was just a regular, average dude. No criminal record, no alarming past. He worked at some tedious sales job, had a membership for pears, and liked to post about his cat on Instagram. But beneath all that, you’d never suspect he’d start to follow some poor hotel worker around.

He had tracked Reed’s social media like a hawk—checking her location whenever she tagged herself anywhere, commenting on random photos with little hearts and fire emojis, but under three different accounts, two of which had female names. The kind of stuff that seemed innocent until you looked closer. And now, we’d found a one-way ticket to Phoenix. He was coming here.

I took a deep breath, trying not to let it freak me out. I clicked over to the chat window with Arabella and Calia. Our trio always had our back when it came to digging into things. Reed and I quickly filled them in on the situation.

Me:Found out Doug bought a ticket to Arizona.

Arabella:Ew, what a creep. Are you guys okay??

Calia:Wait, so he’s coming to Arizona? That’s seriously messed up.

Me:I’m looking into his digital footprint, but I’ve not found anything to show that he’s done anything like this with another girl. Nothing like that.

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