“Tell me what’s going on, Sloane.”
She regards me for a moment before digging through her bag and hands me a piece of paper.
My jaw tics as I take the note from her hand and open it. On the page are the same words that were written on different paper than last night, so I know it’s a new note.
“Where was it left?” I ask, my tone gruff.
“My locker at work,” she says, no emotion in her tone whatsoever.
“Do you have any idea who’s leaving them?”
She shakes her head.
“Have you told Finn?”
Another shake of her head.
“Are you going to?”
She stares at me for a moment before letting out a sigh. “I don’t want Finn to worry, he has enough on his plate. I didn’t want to come to you with this, either, but…” She pops her shoulder in a half shrug. “You already know about the note from last night and I know you, Marco. I know you wouldn’t have left it alone even if I begged you to, so I figured I might as well ask you for help.”
You’re damn right, I wouldn’t have left it alone. Any threat—veiled or not—towards Sloane is a threat towards me. Anyone who doesn’t know Sloane the way I do would think the blase attitude towards the whole thing is real, that she’s really unaffected. But I know better. I can see the way her hands clasp and unclasp, and the way she bites down on her lip anxiously. My girl is affected by this, all right, and I want nothing more than to make this whole goddamn situation better for her. And I’ll do everything in my power to do it.
I nod mindlessly before letting out a breath.
“I do think you should tell your brother, but I won’t force you. What does the note mean? Does who know about who?”
Her expression shutters. Any and all emotion is wiped from her face.
“I want your help to figure out who’s sending the notes, butonlyon the condition that you don’t ask that. I can’t tell you that, Marco. That’s as much for your benefit as it is mine.”
What the hell does that mean?
I don’t voice that, though. I don’t want her shutting me out further. I pick up my phone and send off a text before focusing my attention back on Sloane.
“Tell me everything you can.”
And she does. I sit and listen as she tells me about how she thought she could feel someone watching her last night while she was out with her friend. She tells me about finding the first note that had been posted under her door and she tells me about how she found the second note taped to the inside of her locker, even though it should have been virtually impossible for someone to make it into the hospital locker rooms because they have high security. Just as she finishes speaking, I hear the elevator open and I turn slightly to see Izzy enter the room. Luckily, she came alone and didn’t bring Luca along with her.
Something seems to pass through Izzy’s expression as she looks at Sloane, but when I turn to look at my girl, she’s looking towards the window and I wonder for a moment if I was imagining things.
“Sloane, this is Izzy, Luca’s wife. Izzy this is Sloane,” I say and wave between the two women.
Izzy regards Sloane, giving her a quick reprisal before her lips twist in distaste. I’m about to get up and fucking throttle my sister-in-law when Sloane breaks the silence.
“Problem?” Sloane asks.
“Oh sweetie, how kind of you to ask,” Izzy snarks as she wanders into the room. “My problem is that Marco was theone to text me, not you,” she says with a raised brow. I glance between the two of them in confusion.
“Well, you didn’t exactly leave me your number when you broke into my apartment, Iz.”
Izzy nods. “Okay, true. We’ll have to fix that.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I blurt, completely bewildered at the fact that these two seem to know each other and that—hang the fuck on. “And what does she mean, you broke into her apartment?” I direct my question to Izzy.
“I wasn’t about to just sit and wait outside her apartment, Marco. Of course, I let myself in.”
“So you two know each other?”