Page 26 of Behind the Scenes

Damnit! If this letter was from the stalker, he or she had gotten entirely too close to Alexis. Christ, they may have been right next to her as she left to go God only knew where.

Hunter turned and raced through the lobby toward the elevator. Frantically pressing the button to return to the penthouse, he tried to keep calm as every fiber of his being raged at Alexis and Lauren’s childish bullshit. The whole ride up, he stewed over Alexis leaving without telling him, and as each floor passed, he realized the whole thing with Carla earlier was just a way to distract him so the two of them could sneak out.

The elevator reached the top floor, and before the doors had even opened all the way, Hunter yelled, “Carla! Tell me where they went!”

She still stood outside Alexis’s bedroom door acting like there was someone on the other side. He stormed down the hallway getting angrier with each step at seeing her still pretending. By the time he reached her, she stared at him with wide eyes filled with fear.

“I need to know where she went, Carla. Someone’s stalking her and might see her alone and unprotected. She’s in danger.”

Carla’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked down, avoiding his gaze. “I didn’t know. She told me to keep you busy.”

“Why? Where did she go, Carla?” he bellowed, tired of the games these people insisted on playing.

She looked up at him and sobbed, “Atlantic City.”

Fucking Atlantic City! Alexis and Lauren alone without any protection in fucking Atlantic City.

God only knew how many people might have access to her there. The stalker could very well find her and Lauren all alone without even a single bodyguard there to protect her.

Hunter hurried to his room to get his cell. He needed her manager’s help on this. He knew her better than anyone. Anyone but Lauren.

“Paul, I need a car right now. Alexis snuck out with Lauren and they’re on their way to Atlantic City right now. They’ve got about an hour head start.”

“Jesus Christ! Atlantic City? Okay, I got this. I’ll have a car there in less than thirty. Damnit, Lexi!” Paul said in utter frustration.

“Any idea why she went there?” Hunter asked. “Does she know someone there she’s going to see?”

“No. I don’t know why anyone would want to go to Atlantic City, to be honest.”

“Maybe the beach?”

Paul sighed. “Maybe. She does miss living out in LA so close to the beach. Hell, she might want to gamble for all I know. What I don’t understand is why she didn’t just tell all of you. Why put herself in danger like this?”

“I have no idea. I just know the longer she and Lauren are alone, the bigger chance there is that someone could get to them. Someone like the guy stalking her. Just get me that car so I can find her before he does.”

“Got it. I’ll have it there in a few.”

Hunter tossed his phone onto his bed and began to pace back and forth. Why the hell had she done something so reckless and stupid? He thought they’d connected on some level with their conversation during the night and then with the bedroom surprise. What the hell had happened to make her act like this?

Then he looked down at the envelope in his hand and knew this little stunt of hers could be much worse. Carefully, he opened the flap and slid the letter out. Ordinarily, he would have preferred to have gloves on to preserve any fingerprints, but if the LAPD hadn’t found any on the previous letters, he had no reason to think there would be any on this new one.

Laying it flat on his dresser, his heart sank at the sight of letters jaggedly cut out from magazines in the stalker’s latest letter to her.

I HOPE YOU’RE LOVING NEW YORK AS MUCH AS I AM. I LIKE LA BETTER, THOUGH. WHEN ARE WE GOING BACK THERE, ALEXIS? SEE YOU SOON.

Had the stalker been in LA when she lived there and moved here when she did? He flipped over the envelope and saw no postmark, so he had no way of knowing where the stalker was now.

If only the doorman and the security guard downstairs in the lobby hadn’t been so fucking interested in talking about whatever idiotic topic they obsessed about that day, they might have been able to tell him what the person who delivered the letter looked like. Were they a male or female? Young or old? Was it the stalker himself or had he or she given it to someone else, say a delivery service, to drop off?

And even more, if Alexis hadn’t duped her bodyguards to sneak out, those men may have seen someone drop the letter off. What the hell was wrong with her?

He didn’t have the answers to any of his questions. All he knew was every minute she didn’t have anyone protecting her, she was in real danger that her stalker would find her. The thought of that happening made his stomach twist into a knot.

And not just because Persephone would have his head if he lost a client.

Chapter Nine

The car stoppedabout a block away from the Boardwalk and the driver looked up at the rear view mirror. Smiling, he said, “We’re here, miss. You said you wanted to get as close to the beach as possible, so here we are.”

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