Page 136 of Stormswept Colorado

Perhaps he had a point there.

“I flew in last night.” Paul was talking loudly enough I could hear the drone of his voice both through the phone and out on the porch. “You’re not the only one with access to a private jet. Which won’t last long with my father threatening to cut me off completely. I drove here in a rental and waited down the road. I was about to try calling you. Then I saw Landry drive off in his police car with the lights on.”

“I’m not at his house. I’m with my brother-in-law.”

“Liar. I saw you through the window when you ran out of his kitchen. You’re hiding.”

I cursed under my breath.

“I just want to talk, okay? Please. I’m begging here. I came all this way. Just let me explain some things, and you’ll see…”

“What. What will I see?”

“That I made a mistake, but I’m not that bad of a guy.” He knocked on the front door again. “I have information that you’ll want.”

I scoffed. “And you think you can trade something for it, is that it?”

“Pretty much. Open the door, and I’ll tell you. You’ll definitely want to know this. It’simportant.”

Temptation whispered at the back of my mind. What if he really knew something? Was it about the old photo of me?

But there was absolutely no way I’d give Paul what he wanted. I wished I could march outside and knee him in the balls again. Then break his nose. He was stronger than me, though. I didn’t have a gun or the training to use one.

There was only one real choice. “I’m going to call the police.” Maybe another officer would respond, and Teller could stay with his sister.

“No! No, no, no, just let me speak, okay? I’ll tell you. You have a real stalker, Ayla, but it wasn’t me. I never sent the flowers in Toronto! Do you hear me? I never sent those.”

I froze, my finger hovering over theEnd Callbutton. Between the phone speaker and his voice on the porch, I could still hear Paul clearly.

“Cheryl told me about the flowers and what the card said. Yes, I sent the emails calling myself Biggest Fan,” he went on. “But I just borrowed the name.”

I lifted the phone to my ear again. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“To stop you from making another stupid decision. You went off the rails a couple years ago, and then your last album flopped. I was supposed to mastermind your big comeback. The return of Ayla Maxwell to the top of the charts. You’d gotten those creepy flowers before, so I decided to capitalize on that.”

“But why send the email when I was in Silver Ridge for the wedding?”

“Because Cheryl and I were both worried you wouldn’t come back from Colorado. That place has some kind of hold on you. That’s why Cheryl and I both came there to get you. I just took it a step further. I thought…I guess I thought if you were afraid of a stalker, you’d be more willing to do what we asked.”

“More willing to fall into your arms, you mean.” My stomach twisted. I wanted to retch. “Then you sent more flowers. And thatdisgusting photo yesterday with Teller’s eyes blacked out. You’re pathetic.”

“I didn’t send any of the flowers. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. None of them. I only sent the two emails. And the second one was only because I panicked at the event the other night.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“I fucking swear, Ayla. On my grave and, like, my bank account.”

Wow. Under different circumstances, I would’ve laughed. Paul was truly a shining example of the worst LA had to offer. He’d sent the emails from Biggest Fan to swoop in and play my hero, just like Teller had thought. As if Paul could be a hero to anyone except in his own mind.

But if he was telling the truth, if Paul hadn’t sent those flowers, then…

Who?

“Shit,” Paul said. “You really called the cops on me? Is that your boyfriend, here to attack me again just for trying to tell you the truth?”

What was he talking about?

I emerged from the hallway and looked through one of the front windows. A police SUV had just driven up the driveway. But that wasn’t Teller behind the wheel.

---