Page 149 of Bodyguard By Night

“Just Poe. Nothing on the account who sent the picture. It’s already deleted.”

“Color me surprised. We’ve had no success following this piece of shit on your socials.”

“No. I just don’t know what he wants with me. For a fame grab, I’m not that exciting compared to some.”

“It’s a numbers game with people who get money from fandoms. I’m wondering if you’re a test.”

I frowned. “What kind of test?”

“At least you started out as one.” He laid a bottle into our makeshift template. “You aren’t exactly easy to get video for, right? Most of your work was done in your apartment and you only went out sometimes. If he can get footage of you, it shows he has skills.”

I swallowed down the bump to my ego and tried to look at it from Ransom’s point of view. “If he can do this with you, he can get a bigger celebrity.” He glanced up at me. “Not that you’re not—”

“No. I always wondered why he would go for me. I have a good social media following, but I’m not onThe Bacheloretteor whatever.”

“Right. But if he can show this dark web forum what he can do, then he can make bank doing tracking others.”

It was a good theory. And after what I’d seen on the dark web with Poe and Aidan, I could only imagine what else was out there.

“Problem is, I think this guy got fixated on you.”

My hand trembled as I set down my phone. “Why?”

“That I don’t know. I’m no profiler, but it’s just a gut feeling. And my gut hasn’t ever steered me wrong.”

“Yeah, well I don’t like your gut.”

He huffed out a half-laugh and set a finished bottle near his rapidly growing collection. “You might not like it, but you aren’t arguing with me.”

“No.” I sat up straighter and set myself to getting this project done. If I let myself spiral into possible theories, we’d be here all night. “Doesn’t mean I like it.”

Especially that intimate photo in candlelight at the distillery as if we were going to have dinner together. That part made me very uneasy.

But what bothered me most was that things kept escalating. What was next? And would we be able to figure out who the hell he was before he harmed my family in an even worse way?

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