Page 170 of The Stalker

Daniel Russo being his real name was something, though. There would be breadcrumbs the stalker had left. Daniel had to have been in contact with them during the tour. She was itching to give this information to Mark.

“I’m not going to lose hope,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Hayden is out there, and I’ll find him myself if I have to.”

“Tatiana,” Derek said in a warning tone. “Don’t go rogue.”

She looked up into his bright blue eyes and blinked at him before laughing. “It’s a turn of phrase. I’m not that dumb. Besides, I promised I’d give you any information that I find.”

“Okay, good. Well, I’d better get back to it. I’ll tell them Ariana’s theory, but as I said, we’re already working on that assumption.”

She nodded and saw him out before heading back to her armchair. She emailed the pictures to Mark immediately, writing out the new information that she’d been given, and sent him a text to tell him to check his email.

She looked up from her phone, and there was an awkward silence after all the action of the last hour or so. “I’m sorry. You guys probably want me to leave. I’ll give you your privacy.”

“No!” Sebastian exclaimed, and Tatiana hesitated in the midst of shutting her laptop. “As soon as your friend gives you any information, we want to know.” He looked around at his friends and they murmured their consent. “I get that you’re working a job, but”—his voice cracked, and he coughed before continuing—“just…stick around and keep us in the loop.”

“Sebastian’s trying to say that we all love Hayden and this is really hard for us because we’re scared he’s going to be killed,” Lita said.

Tatiana’s eyes widened, and she turned to look at her. The words were so incredibly painful to hear that she wanted to burst into tears. She swallowed heavily and looked at the clock. It wasn’t noon yet.

She swallowed heavily and said, “I’m sure this is rough. The stalker wants a life with Hayden. I don’t think they’re going to kill him.”

That has to be true. He needs to stay alive and stay safe.

She knew painfully well all the ways in which a person could be harmed terribly while remaining alive, but she didn’t think she should lay those out for Hayden’s friends. A few minutes later, Ariana left with Lita to take Mirabella back to Sebastian’s suite, leaving her alone with Hayden’s bandmates.

“Want another drink, Tati?” Gabriel asked her as he indicated to her empty bottle of water.

“Sure,” she said, looking up from her laptop.

“When do you think your friend will get back to you?” Sebastian asked.

“I don’t know, he’s—”

She was cut off by the sound of Harrison’s phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and smiled at the screen before looking up at them.

“It’s Heather. Can I take this into the other room, Gabriel?”

“Sure, that door is for the spare room.” He pointed to a door across the room from Tatiana and Harrison answered the phone as he disappeared through it.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I don’t know when he’ll get back to me. Hopefully, it’ll be soon. He did say he got the information I sent through at least.”

“I just hate this waiting game. I don’t think I’ve ever been this worried in my life, well…I have, but this sucks.” Sebastian frowned and sighed.

They fell into silence again, and Tatiana went back to scouring databases for any information she could find on Daniel and his life. She’d found a few pieces of information, but nothing that could be tied to a woman who might be the stalker. She was distracted again when her watch started vibrating on her wrist, and she looked down at it to see that it was midday.

She inhaled sharply and looked over at Gabriel. “Can I possibly use your bathroom?”

“Sure, of course you can. Harrison’s in the spare room, but you can use the one in our room.” He stood and led the way into the master room of the suite. He pointed to a door across from them and said, “It’s just through there.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly around the lump in her throat.

Tatiana strode across the room and into the bathroom, clicking the door shut behind her. She had time to catch a glimpse of the luxury bathroom before tears obscured her vision. She slumped against the wall and dropped to the floor, crying as quietly as she could.

She wrapped her arms around her legs, holding them tightly against herself, and allowed the gaping chasm in her chest to crack wide open. She allowed all of the fear and worry that she’d been pushing away to envelop her entirely.

“Hayden,” she whispered into the bathroom. “Please be safe. I need you to be safe.”

Her words echoed around her, and she felt them deep down to the core of her very being. He had to be safe or she wouldn’t be able to survive. Images of him being tortured by the stalker flooded her mind, and she hated them. He was strong enough to handle it, but she didn’t want him to suffer.

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