Page 66 of Live for Me

A soft laugh left her as she reached into the pocket of her dress, pulling out her phone. “I would too if I had your job.” She handed her phone out to me, and I took it with gratitude.

“I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re done,” she said. She turned, rounding the island before stopping in her tracks. “Oh, and please don’t leave the house. The last thing I need is a grumpy husband tonight.”

I was fairly certain Denver was always grumpy. “I won’t, Valerie. You have my word.” I was also fairly certain my word didn’t mean shit to anyone on Hallow Ranch. I left her with that and headed into the living room, dialing my boss’ number.

It rang twice before he answered. “Grimsy,” he answered gruffly.

“Mr. Grimsy, it’s Abbie.”

He blew out a breath. “Jesus, Abbie, where the hell have you been?”

“It’s a long story, sir,” I said on a wince, my stomach twisting with nerves.

“Well, lucky for you, my top journalist has been MIA for the last two days and it's been the only thing everyone can focus on,” he said gruffly.

“Sounds like you give a shit, sir,” I said, looking to my feet, doing nothing to hide my smile. Mr. Grimsy may be a money hungry bastard, but he cared for his staff.

“Don’t push it. Talk. What’s going on?” he demanded to know.

Seven minutes later, my boss was caught up and. safe to say, he was furious. “Alright, alright,” he said, blowing out a breath. “I’ll call the police chief and get this sorted.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I interjected.

“My top fucking journalist went to the police because she was in danger, and they didn’t take her seriously? Absolutely fucking not,” he clipped. Something slammed in the background, and I knew he had just banged his fist onto his desk. “No, no. I’ll be making a call to the chief, and we’ll get flush this fucker out.”

Ash’s word rang out in my head then.

“Wait,” I blurted. “Please don’t do that. That will only make him go back into hiding.”

Mr. Grimsy was silent for three long seconds. “I can’t just stand by and do nothing, Abbie.”

My heart skipped a beat. Yeah, he was money hungry, but down to his core, he was good. He just forgot how to remain good in the midst of the corruption-filled stories we wrote.

“I have someone on it,” I assured, filling him in on Red Snake Investigations. “If you want to do something, you could give them access to the security cameras on my floor.”

“Why would I need to do that?” he asked, confused.

I bit my bottom lip, bracing for his next reaction. “Because my stalker has been in the building before.”

Another loud bang followed, and in the distance, I heard him barking orders about a security meeting to his secretary. I waited, chewing on my lip and staring at the floor. A minute or so later, I heard the phone move, and his voice filled my ear. “Send over the information, and I’ll get someone on it,” he promised in a huff of fury.

I relayed Ash’s information to him.

“Right. Got it. And where did you say you were again? Hayden?” he inquired.

“Yes.”

“There’s a story there, you know.”

My ears perked. “What story?”

“I’ve been meaning to send someone there to dig into it, but I never asked you, given your history with that town,” he explained.

“What’s the story?” I asked.

“Are you sure you want to do this? I can send Mark.”

God, fucking Mark.

---