Page 31 of One Night with the Grump Next Door

“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”

“What does it say?”

Alicia sat up, and I showed her the message. It was written all in caps.

It said:I KNOW YOUR SECRET.

Chapter 15

Alicia

Thefollowingmorning,air-to-groundcommunications had been repaired at the airport. I’d passed a sleepless night worrying while Jake did his best to comfort me. I didn’t know who’d sent the intimidating message, the one I casually opened my phone to read. But I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to relax until I was home, with the family I had left, and the man I was counting on to protect me.

At 1:00 p.m., we flew back to Chicago on the HondaJet. I was sad not to have seen more of the beautiful Grand Cayman Islands with Jake, but once again, events had transpired to make it so that our time together was fraught and difficult. Were we ever going to get the chance to just relax?

Whoever had sent the message must know about my pregnancy. I assumed that was what they meant. And that probably meant they were out to hurt Jake. I guessed a secret baby would produce a pretty serious scandal for CAA if word got out to the newspapers. At the moment, the only three people in the world who knew were me, Jake, and my doctor. Aside from that, no one else was aware of my pregnancy. But what if the word had gotten out somehow?

I thought about Dr. Knightly, her strange expression, and probing questions. Could she be in on it somehow? Perhaps seeking to blackmail us?

Jake was looking out of the window. “I never told you this,” he said, “but back in Florida when we went to the airport, I got a call.”

I looked at him. “I remember,” I said, slowly recalling his shocked expression. “Someone called you and it freaked you out.”

“They were warning me not to go to Grand Cayman,” he said.

I was shocked.

“Jake, are you kidding? How could you not tell me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” he said. “Look, I’m a reasonably high-profile person who runs an airline. I get crazy emails and prank calls to my office sometimes. People write stupid conspiracy theories about me. You know. Chemtrails and that kind of thing.”

“But this is different, Jake,” I said. “Someone warned you not to go there. And then, when you do, a cyberattack happens to suspend air-to-ground communications on an aircraft that doesn’t have enough fuel to make it back to the mainland? It sounds like someone’s trying to hurt us.”

“Us?” he replied. “Who’d want to hurtyou?”

I looked away and thought for a little while. “Someone who knows it would hurt you,” I said quietly.

“Are you angry with me?” prodded Jake.

“A little,” I said. “You didn’t trust me enough to tell me about the person on the phone. And I got on a plane with you to Grand Cayman and was nearly hurt. That can’t happen again.”

“I promise not to do that again,” said Jake.

But I wasn’t sure I trusted him to keep his promise.

Bylateafternoonwewere touching down in Chicago. It was crazy to think that I’d only been away two days. The stress of meeting Dr. Knightly, getting whisked away by Jake to Grand Cayman, the plane almost crashing, and the beautiful scenery of Grand Cayman … it was almost too much, all of it. I was happy to be back home, and, even if I was feeling wary of Jake after the revelation about the person who was stalking him—who might be stalking me—I was happy to have him by my side in our hometown.

At the airport, a car met us and drove us back to Gold Coast.

“Can I come inside?” asked Jake, as he dropped me off. “I haven’t seen Sam in a while. I guess I have something to explain to him.”

“What?” Was Jake about to tell his best friend that we were together—that I was carrying his baby? “Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” he replied. “Is that okay?”

I gulped and nodded. He leaped out of the car and opened my door for me. I stepped out, with my travel case, and we made our way to the front door.

Jake knocked on the door, and Sam opened it. “Well, ain’t this a surprise!” he said. “You dropping off my sister?”

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