Page 17 of The Stalker

3

The Library

When Tatiana wokethe next morning, she was uneasy. The sunlight streaming in through the window was far too strong and bright for the time she was meant to wake up. She looked at her watch and groaned; it was almost ten, and she had slept in way too late.

She grabbed her phone and checked the screen. No calls from Hayden, but she felt awful that he would be sitting in his room waiting for her to wake up. She had a missed call from Cooper, though, so she dialed him back.

“Miss Swanson, I called you two hours ago.”

She cringed and said, “Yes, sorry, I missed your call. What’s up?”

“I forwarded you an email from Hayden’s stalker that came in overnight.”

She frowned and said. “Okay. I’ll check it out. Anything of note in it?”

“No. Just some garbage that they’re in love with him and have sacrificed a lot to be with him.”

Tatiana shook her head. She couldn’t understand how people could get so obsessive over someone, but she knew it happened because she’d dealt with stalkers before.

“Sounds pretty standard. Is Hayden aware of this email?”

“No, he’s not. I think it best that we let him focus on the tour instead of concerning him with this.”

“I see,” she said noncommittally.

She disagreed with this tactic. Clients who were kept in the dark about threats tended to get complacent. Still, from her experiences with Cooper, she knew there was no point arguing with him. So, she’d go with his plan unless she saw a need to tell Hayden.

“Do you have any other questions?” Cooper asked.

“Not at the moment.”

“Excellent. I’ll be in touch if anything else comes through.”

He hung up the call and Tatiana rolled her eyes. Cooper was incredibly dislikable. She glanced at her phone screen and cringed when she saw the time. She needed to let Hayden out of his room, so dressed swiftly, and braided her long hair as quickly as she could. She decided to wait until later to shower, so Hayden could get up and have some breakfast first.

Tatiana rushed out of her room and toward Hayden’s. She was horrified to see his door was unlocked and open. Her heart leaped to her throat, and her blood ran cold.

She called out, “Hayden?”

There was no response, and she swiftly entered the room, looking for signs of a struggle. There was nothing, so she swept the room and checked his bathroom to see nothing of note. Tatiana checked each room except her own on her way to the main area, but couldn’t find any sign of Hayden.

“Hayden?” She called his name repeatedly, to no response.

There was no sign of a struggle out here, either, but also no sign of Hayden. Tatiana kept her cool; she’d searched the entire apartment on her way here. Hayden having been taken wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, but she knew it was more likely he had gone somewhere without her, given that he was a new client. Still, she had to treat every disappearance as though it was a worst-case scenario.

As she walked over to the windows to look out, she called his name out one last time, “Hayden!”

Tatiana looked behind the sofa, but again saw nothing. She turned to the windows and sighed as she pulled out her phone to try calling him.

“Tatiana?” he answered her call on the second ring.

“Hayden, thank god. Where are you, and why aren’t you in your room?” Tatiana demanded.

“Hang on, I’ll see you in a second,” he told her and ended their call.

She blinked and stared at her phone in surprise. Was he downstairs or something?

“Sorry, you looked really tired and like you could do with the sleep-in, so I didn’t wake you.” Hayden’s voice came from behind her and Tatiana jumped.

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