Page 38 of Limitless

I had to admit I wanted the place. I wanted to buy it and spend my time furnishing it and making it our own. I’d set up an office and a studio, a room for Sophie and one for Liam, and of course, Drake and my master bedroom. That still left two bedrooms for Ethan and Elaine if they wanted it and a spare room in case someone needed an office.

I sighed and scanned the newest listings on the luxury real estate website. Drake and I were very lucky that money was no object. We’d find something, but I hated this waiting.

After Sophie and my walk that afternoon, while Drake was at NYP in meetings, I arrived back at the building and after I opened the front entrance, I saw that the delivery person had dropped off the mail. There were always junk flyers in the mail, spread out on the table for the two other apartments on the main floor.

I picked up the mail for our apartments, and inside was a plain white envelope. It had our address on it and a stamp.

Addressed simply toThe Residentsand our address.

I opened it, and inside were three pages, with images on them.

One image was of me standing at the corner down the street, hand in hand with Sophia.

Another was of Sophia, at the nearby park, climbing on a play structure.

The third was of a man following us, dressed in sweats and wearing a red bandana.

I gasped when I realized what it was.

Someone had followed us and taken our pictures and sent them to us. But who was the mystery man with the red bandana? Was someone trying to warn me I had a stalker?

I took out my cell and took pics of the three pieces of paper and sent them to Drake’s cell. Then I called him.

He answered on the first ring.

“Oh, Kate,” he said, his voice sounding alarmed. “I’m so sorry… This is my fault. I should have told you, but I didn’t want to alarm you. Plus, I thought maybe I was just seeing things.”

“Drake, tell me what’s going on.”

While Sophie and I walked up the stairs to the apartment, Drake told me about what happened while he was in Manhattan.

He told me about the man standing on the street, wearing a KN95 mask, watching him. Who then walked by the apartment and looked in the door to where Drake stood in the entrance. It had creeped him out enough that he arranged a security company to provide protection for him while he was in New York.

How he’d hired Brimstone Security once more to protect us once we moved back. How the picture of the man with the red bandana was my guard, who had been tailing me as protection.

“I was going to tell you,” he said, his voice low, “but I wanted you to get settled in first. I never imagined that anything like this would happen. I’m so sorry.”

I took in a deep breath, trying to compose myself so that Sophie wasn’t alarmed.

“It’s okay. I’m glad I know. So, George is permanent? There’s someone else watching the house and me and Sophie when we go out?”

“Yes, there’s someone there 24/7. And George is my permanent driver, and there’s someone watching me when he’s not on shift. We’re all protected 24/7 until we know for sure that we’re safe. Obviously, we aren’t if someone’s following you, and sends pictures of you and Sophie. And your guard…”

“How did they know we were here, in Manhattan?”

There was a brief silence on the line. “It has to be someone at NYP. They’re the only people who know we’re back.”

“Who would want to threaten you?”

“I don’t know, but we have to call the police, get them involved. The photo of you and Sophie were definitely threatening. Sending a photo of the guard watching you shows they know we have protection. I’ll be home in twenty minutes. The police will probably send someone by to take our statements.”

“Okay,” I said and went to the kitchen to put on the kettle for some tea. “I’ll see you when you get here. Hopefully, we can keep this quiet so we don’t make Sophie afraid.”

“Yes. We don’t want to scare her.”

We said goodbye and I put my cell away, wondering what I should do. I could call my father, but the very last thing he needed, given his health, was to worry about us.

So, instead of doing that, I made some tea and sat with Sophie, watching the movie Frozen for the tenth time that week. To add to the dozens of times she’d watched it since it was released, and she was old enough to understand it.

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