Page 118 of Nanny and the Beast

“I had a gun in the car, but I didn’t have time to reach for it.”

“Did you recognize him, at least?” Alaric asks.

“No, I’ve never seen that man before in my life,” I say.

“Great. This is great,” he says, sounding more agitated by the second.

“I’m sorry to spring this on you first thing in the morning.”

“I’m mad you didn’t call me when it happened,” he says.

“I...lost track of time,” I say.

My mind takes me back to Emma again. I don’t want to admit it, but it wasn’t until I saw her face that the tension melted from my body. She has a way of making everything better just by existing.

“Did you make it home safe?” he asks.

“Yeah, I had one of my guys pick me up,” I say.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t call me right away,” he says. “Are the injuries bad? Have you seen a doctor yet?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Alaric,” I say. “It was just a few cuts.”

“I’m coming over,” he says.

“Wait, I called because I need your help with something,” I say.

“What do you need help with?”

“So the man who attacked me? I saw his face,” I say. “I saw the mania in his eyes. I don’t know who he was, but he wasn’t just sent by someone. It was personal for him.”

“Personal how?” Alaric asks.

I take a deep breath. “There’s no way for me to know this, but I have a weird hunch that this has to do with Emma.”

“You think he’s her stalker?” Alaric asks.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to think right now, man,” I say.

Alaric and I are still investigating Emma’s past. There are no records to follow, so we still don’t know what the stalker looks like. He erased all traces of himself from the internet, so there’s nothing for us to dig up.

But for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that it was he who attacked me.

I recognized the obsession behind his deranged eyes.

"Did you talk to Emma about this?" he asks.

“No, and I don’t plan to.”

“In case you’re forgetting, she’s the only one who knows what this man actually looks like,” Alaric says.

“I know that. I just don’t want to involve her in all this,” I say.

He’s quiet for a moment.

“Did you sleep with her yet?” he asks.

My heart skips a beat. “What?”

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