Page 25 of Shattered Reign

“But nothing is disturbed,” I protested.

“That doesn’t mean someone wasn’t, or isn’t, here. Humor me by waiting here until I check everything?”

What harm would it do? “Fine. I won’t move from this spot.”

Easton gave me a small, tired smile and went off to look through my apartment to see if anyone had entered it. My building was pretty secure, but you never knew what could happen.

I twisted my torso slightly to look behind me to see if there were any marks near my front door that would indicate someone had tried to come in, but there were none.

I pulled out my old phone from my purse and turned it on as I was somewhat ready to face what was coming to me. When my phone’s alerts started to sound, I immediately turned my phone on silent to save me the headache of having to hear it.

As I was looking through my messages, I found several messages from my mom and Nash, and the gist I was getting was that Tristan had told at least my mother I was staying with him for the time being to buy me time about having to explain my disappearance. How he’d gotten her to buy that explanation was a whole different matter, one I might never know the answer to.

I truly didn’t know what to think of Tristan, but for now, I would keep him in the ally category. I also needed to tell him that we could cancel this new phone because I didn’t need it anymore.

Easton walked back into the room and said, “No one is here, and I don’t think anyone has tried to get in.”

“That’s a relief.” I walked over to my couch with my bags, happy to finally be able to move freely in my place again. I had no idea what my first task should be now that I was back at home. Showering was on the agenda…maybe doing that and then taking a nap? Maybe going to my parents’ house this evening or tomorrow?

“Bianca, there’s something I need to tell you.” Easton’s voice broke through my thoughts.

Everything came to a halt, and I turned to face him, not sure where this was going. “What happened? I know something bad happened.”

“It’s not necessarily bad, but I didn’t want to keep it from you.”

I was afraid of what he was going to say. There were so many possibilities I wasn’t sure where this was going. Potentially, it was the last thing I needed after a whirlwind trip to Italy. “What is it?” I asked, my voice slightly above a whisper.

“I reached out to Nash about your stalker,” he confessed as he looked directly into my eyes. I didn’t see a hint of remorse in his gaze.

A sense of betrayal washed over me. My shock and anger fought a battle within me, and I wasn’t sure which emotion would win. “What? Why?”

“I wanted to use some of his resources to find out who is doing this to you. I wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, and I thought with him knowing, we would have more power at our disposal. I didn’t tell him about your trip to Italy or that you were the one who leaked the information about your father though.”

His logic was sound, but that wasn’t the point. “But it wasn’t for you to tell.”

“I’m well aware,” he replied calmly, his authoritative tone taking me off guard. “But I’m not going to apologize for trying to keep you safe.”

I hated that his tone and the way he said it made my heart flutter. Still, I wanted to scream, but the sound didn’t leave my throat. Instead, I could feel the warmth coming up my neck and to my cheeks as my eyes started to well up with frustrated tears. I couldn’t help but feel violated. “You should have talked to me before you spoke to him about my battle. I trusted you!”

Easton didn’t react to my outburst, nor did he lower his gaze under my glare. It was obvious he was confident he’d done the right thing. “I know, and I’m sorry I hurt you. But I thought it was best given the situation, and this was my way of showing you that you didn’t need to handle any of this alone. In fact, Nash told me that he and Raven were getting similar messages.”

That drew my attention slightly away from being mad at him. “Nash and Raven were getting texts too?”

Easton nodded and I was slightly annoyed that Nash hadn’t told me about the messages. Then again, I hadn’t told him what I was going through either. “I need to call him. Hell, I needed to even before all of this…”

I was mostly talking to myself at this point, and Easton gave me the space to do so.

“That is beside the point,” I managed to say. “I appreciate what you were trying to do, but communication has to be better between us. I deserve to be informed and make my own decisions.”

“If it’s the difference between protecting you and putting you in harm’s way, I would do this again every time. This is about protecting what is mine.Youare mine.”

The look in his eyes told me that I shouldn’t doubt him. In spite of what I was feeling, I knew I couldn’t afford to stay hung up on this. There was a bigger monster at hand: my stalker. The last thing I wanted to do was be pissed at someone who loved me and was doing everything in his power to help make this come to an end.

I took a deep breath as Easton spoke. “We’re wondering if any of this is connected to Iris’s disappearance.”

Hearing Iris’s name made me do a double take. “Did you find out anything about her? Is she okay?”

“As far as we know, she is, but that’s all the information we have. Nash might be able to tell us more when we see him, but he was still trying to seek confirmation. At least that was the case when I spoke to him last.”

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