Page 57 of Behind the Scenes

While her assistants seemed surprised by her newfound strength, Hunter wasn’t. All she saw was pride now as he smiled at her. She liked how it felt to see someone look at her like that for something other than acting. That she could do easily. Steeling herself and forcing down the fear in real life was much harder.

“That is so great!” Lauren said, genuinely happy to see her confident again. “See, I told you this move was going to be good for you. It just took a little time to get used to the place.”

“Well, maybe you’re right. I still miss the sun in LA, but maybe New York won’t be so bad. What do you say to checking out another gym today?”

She looked over at Hunter and chuckled. “You up for another run?”

His eyes lit up at her offer of another challenge. “Of course. Just say when.”

“Later this morning, then. I just need to get a shower and I’ll be ready to go.”

As the words left her mouth, she saw Hunter’s eyes grow wide. A split second later, she realized what she’d done as Lauren looked at her and shook her head.

“A shower? You told me you took a bath this morning.”

Quickly, she tried to cover up her mistake. “Oh, well, you know how baths feel great but then you never feel clean? That’s what I meant. I want to feel clean when I go for a run. That’s all.”

Yeah. That made sense. Showering before she went running. At this rate, she’d be lucky if Lauren and Carla didn’t want to rush her off to a doctor to have her head examined.

Thankfully, one of her bodyguards walked into the room at that moment and said, “Miss Marchand? Sorry to bother you, but you just got this special delivery.”

In his hand, he held an oversized manila envelope. Just seeing it made Alexis’s entire body tense up. She’d been having such a good day so far, and now this had to happen.

Hunter quickly took the envelope from Mark’s hand and examined it, gingerly holding it by the edge and turning it over to look at the back before saying to her, “It’s from a Melanie Dannon. Do you know her?”

As if the tension and stress of seeing that envelope melted away at the mere sound of her agent’s name, Alexis smiled. “That’s my agent.”

Holding out her hand, she added, “It’s okay. She probably sent something I need to sign. I think she mentioned something the last time we talked the other day.”

He relaxed and nodded as he handed it to her. “Okay. As long as you recognize the name. I didn’t think this would be from him anyway. None of the others had a return address on them.”

Alexis let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good. I didn’t think about that. I just got a little freaked out there, but once you said my agent’s name, I knew it was okay.”

She eagerly opened it and pulled out a sheet of paper. Suddenly, it felt like her coffee would come up as her stomach twisted into a tight knot. This wasn’t something from Melanie she had to sign.

“It’s…it’s from…” she stammered out, shaking her head in disbelief.

Her hands shook in terror as Lauren asked, “What’s wrong? What did Melanie say?”

The paper fell from her hands, and Alexis pulled her knees up to curl into a ball to protect herself. She’d promised herself she’d be strong, but now the stalker had come into her home once more and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide.

Hunter hurried over and crouched down in front of her to pick up the horrible letter. She wanted him to take her into his arms and tell her he would protect her. That everything would be okay because he’d make it okay.

But he didn’t.

He stood up and said to Lauren and Carla, “You two take care of her. I’ll be right back.”

She watched as he walked out of the room, leaving her there with nothing but her fear and the helpless words from her two assistants. Closing her eyes, she hid her face in her knees and wished for this all to be over.

But would it ever end? Would she ever be free of this mystery person who tormented her with his letters?

Chapter Nineteen

Hunter made abeeline for his room and slammed the door shut behind him. In his bag, he grabbed a plastic baggie and slid the letter and envelope inside, knowing all too well that any check for fingerprints would find his and Mark’s. Hopefully, though, they’d find another person’s.

He called the estate and heard Gideon answer. “Hey man! What’s up?”

“I’m sending you a letter that just got delivered to Alexis. It was supposedly sent from her agent, Melanie Dannon. It’s from the stalker. I need you to check for fingerprints and see if there’s anyone around the agent we can connect to this. You’ll find my prints and one of her bodyguards’ prints, Mark Driscoll, so keep that in mind.”

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