Page 15 of Winter Love

“We’ll talk soon.”

I send the screenshots over right away. I’m a little worried, but I don’t want to worry Emma too. I know she can sense thatsomething is going on. Once I get some answers, I’ll tell her. But the nagging in my head is saying what if this screwball tries to take her before I can tell her? I just hate worrying her.

Unknown: Worried? You should be

Who the fuck is this? I send the new one to Lorenzo.

Lorenzo: This person is crazy and persistent. Have you told Emmanuelle?

Lukas: Not yet. I don’t want to scare her. But I’m also worried this person could grab her before I can tell her

Lorenzo: I’m adding Sebastiano. I’d also like to add Francesco Bastianini, he’s Celestino’s twin and another really good IT guy. They work together a lot

Lukas: Sounds good. Thank you

Lorenzo: Sebastiano, Francesco, this is Lukas. He needs our help. I’ll send you both the screenshots. But I thought this group text would be easier

Sebastiano: Nice to meet you. Don’t worry, between Francesco and me, we will figure this out

Francesco: Nice to meet you. I’ll get on this now

Sebastiano: Have you told your woman about this?

Lukas: Not yet

Sebastiano: You need to do it now. You don’t want this asshole to get to her without her knowing. It’s better that she knows so she can be on the lookout

Lukas: I’ll tell her today. Thanks for everything

Francesco: We’ll have something today

Lukas: I’m at the store today so I should be able to answer calls and texts

Francesco: I’m working on it now. Enzo needs to email you the forms to give us consent to look at your phone records. I promise we won’t dig into things that aren’t part of this

Lukas: I have nothing to hide. Do you need anything from Emma?

Lorenzo: I’ll send two copies, one for each of you to sign

Lukas: I’m on it. I’ll go and talk to her now and then we’ll sign and send them back

Lorenzo: Text me when you send them back. Talk soon

I put my phone away and go looking for my Emma. I find her eating popcorn with Lissy. I laugh as I walk over to them.

“How’s the popcorn?”

“It’s yummy.” Lissy giggles with her mouth full.

“I need to talk to you,” I say to Emma. She nods and follows me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier when you asked me what was wrong. I was trying to take care of this without bringing you more into it. But I’ve realized that’s not going to be possible.”

“What’s wrong?” she frowns.

“This morning I got some weird texts and at first I just ignored it. But then it started to really bother me. And I contacted Lorenzo. He said he could help and then I got another text.”

I show her the texts. And I watch her eyes get wider and her lower lip starts to tremble. I wrap my arms around her.

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