Page 42 of Limitless

“Maybe it was a mistake coming back,” Kate said, frowning. She looked into my eyes. “We’ve barely been back, and we’re already being threatened. I’m afraid for Sophie. Why would someone take a picture of her and send it to us if not to make a threat?”

“All I can say is that we’ve done everything we can to protect ourselves. Do you really want to move away after we’ve just arrived? Ethan and Elaine are here. Liam will be here for school at the end of August. I want to be here for him.”

She sighed audibly and I knew she was torn between wanting me to be happy and having Liam with me and being safe, somewhere she didn’t have to worry about some vengeful person out to hurt me.

“We’ll be fine,” I said and pulled her more tightly against me. “We have the best security watching us 24/7.”

“That’s how we have to live?”

I didn’t answer. It wasn’t how I wanted to live. I wanted to be able to get up early and go for a run along the waterfront, walk through the parks without having to check and see if some man with a red kerchief was there to protect me. I didn’t want to even have to think about someone trying to hurt Kate and Sophie. Or me.

But that wasn’t the world we lived in. Apparently, that world vanished years ago.

When the time came and both of us were exhausted, we fell into bed. With Sophie in the other bed so close by, I didn’t initiate anything with Kate, although a good session of lovemaking might have distracted us from what was bothering us both.

Instead, I held her in my arms and tried to calm her anxiety, talking in a low voice about how everything would work out and the police would find who it was that sent the threatening mail.

I lay in bed in the darkness, and wondered who it was who wants to hurt me.

Was it someone from NYP? Did I pass them in the hallways each day and not realize the hatred they felt for me?

Was it someone from Lisa’s family, wanting revenge for her going to jail?

I finally fell asleep, but it was a long time in coming…

* * *

The next daywe spent lounging around the hotel, watching Disney movies and reading papers. Kate was doing research about her MA thesis, and what she’d have to do to complete the degree, so at least that distracted her from our current predicament.

As for me, I tried to keep my mind off it by reading the sports section and keeping up with the news. We ate in our hotel room, and the only break we had was sitting on the patio. We had a marvellous view of the harbor and Manhattan across the water. Seeing the city made me glad we were back and almost — almost— made me forget for a moment why we were at the hotel.

The next day, after a quick shower and breakfast in the room, I gathered up my papers and prepared to go to work.

Kate promised that she and Sophie would stay in the hotel and amuse themselves inside rather than going out. I promised that we’d do something together on the weekend when we could be together. I didn’t want them going out by themselves, even with protection. Not without me being there.

I kissed Sophie and Kate goodbye and headed out to take the limo to NYP. I had a life to lead and a job to do. Porter had been understanding, and given me the previous day off, but he wanted me to make progress on setting up the new pediatric surgery unit, and that was my aim for the day.

I went down to the lobby and saw that the limo was on the street waiting, with George standing beside the rear passenger door.

I smiled as I walked up to the vehicle, glad to see George. His presence me a sense of security. I knew that when we drove away, there would be someone watching over the hotel room for us.

“Morning” I said as he opened the door.

“Good morning, Sir. Hope you had a good night.”

“It was quiet, thankfully.”

We drove to NYP, and I went inside, trying to shut off the worry about Kate and Sophie’s safety so I could focus on my work.

I succeeded for the most part, and was able to spend the day in meetings, reviewing options for equipment and discussing renovations to the building that would be required to set up the new robotic surgery unit.

I spoke with Kate and Sophie by Skype, and was reassured that they were fine, if not frustrated at being unable to go outside and walk around, go to the park.

“We’ll go to the park this weekend, I promise,” I said, trying to placate Sophie, who wanted to go to the zoo and museum, which we had talked about while on the plane to New York. She was getting cabin fever from being trapped inside, and while it was understandable, she and Kate would just have to wait until the weekend.

I didn’t feel safe letting them go out, even with security.

Not after what happened with Kate before Sophie was born…

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