“Yes, sir,” Amir replied.“She’s currently in her cubicle, working on the computer.”The man’s features softened.“She’s pretty angry, apparently.”
Rafi grunted acknowledgement.He didn’t care that Carys was angry.He was just so relieved that she was safe.However, the mystery of the thefts was an interesting question.
“Carys mentioned that someone had been in her apartment this weekend.”
“Yes, sir,” Amir replied with a slight nod of his head.“We picked the locks and took a look around, just as you requested.She wasn’t home, sir.”
Rafi fisted his hands on his hips.“She told me to stop stealing from her.”
The bodyguard tensed.“We took nothing from her apartment, sir.”
“I know,” Rafi replied, waving his hand in the air.“But Carys seemed certain that someone had stolen from her.”
The man’s eyes sharpened.“The only item of any value in her apartment is a television.But even that isn’t particularly valuable.It’s small and old.”
Rafi’s eyes narrowed as he considered that.“She mentioned that the stolen items weren’t important but whatever had been taken was irritating.Or annoying.”He sighed and sliced his hand through the air.“I can’t remember her exact words.”Because he’d noticed her damn leather boots.He pushed her leather boots, and how sexy they made her appear, out of his mind.“Can you look into that?I can’t quite put my finger on why, but her comment worries me.”
The man was nodding before Rafi even finished.“I’m on it, sir,” he agreed, and spun around on his heel.Rafi heard him muttering into a microphone in Arabic.His voice was low but demanding and Rafi turned, looking out the window again.Amir would get to the bottom of the odd thefts.
Then his mind returned to his favorite subject.What was Carys doing right now?
Chapter 29
“Hey, this came for you last Friday, but you’d already headed out for the day,” Bobby, the mail room guy, announced, handing an envelope to Carys.“I thought I’d deliver it to you earlier than the normal mail since it’s marked private and personal.”
Carys stared at the envelope.This one was typed and, in the upper left hand corner, the return address was from “William Bescer, Esquire” along with a posh, Philadelphia address.Carys didn’t have the stomach to open the envelope now.Besides, this was a personal issue.She’d open it on her lunch break which was in…now!
Carys grabbed her tote bag and left the office, ignoring the group of co-workers who were gathered in the staff kitchen, reveling and laughing about the success of the morning’s meeting.Yeah, the campaign was going to be great.Unfortunately, she didn’t feel like celebrating.
Walking out of the building, Carys headed for the cozy, tree-lined, brick courtyard that had been created between this building and the next.The two buildings were probably owned by the same management company because they were similar in style.She sat down underneath one of the colorful trees, then pulled the letter out.
For several moments, Carys simply stared at the letter, wondering what the letter was about.It had to be bad news.Nothing that came from a lawyer’s office was good news.Her stomach tightened as she thought about Tanya.The woman had been jogging by her apartment a few days ago.And had Carys seen her other times?There had been a flash of a dark haired woman walking away from Carys’s building that had looked vaguely familiar.Had that been Tanya?Had her former boss taken to stalking Carys to exact some sort of revenge plot?
Carys thought about tearing open the envelope and reading the message inside.But something warned her that she wasn’t going to like what she found.So instead, she stuffed it back into her bag and looked around.She needed food.She hadn’t eaten since yesterday when she’d had the cappuccino while watching the boats on the river.But now it was time for some real food.After the confrontation with Rafi, she was starving.What was it about one’s temper that aroused an appetite?
Carys walked down the sidewalk to one of the downtown delis.She was in the mood for a sandwich with cheese and some sort of bad-for-you, salt-laden meat that tasted wonderful but probably caused cancer.Automatically, Carys reached into her tote bag for her phone, intending to call Andi and ask if she was in the mood for a deli sandwich as well.
But then she remembered that Andi had kissed Rafi on Saturday morning.Andi had been like a sister to Carys, but no more.Andi’s relationship to the cheating bastard meant that Carys would have to find a new best friend.
And that tore at her heart.Andi didn’t know that they were dating the same guy.Andi wouldn’t know why Carys had ignored her friend’s calls and texts for the past two days.So Carys pulled her phone out and pulled up the texting app.She read through the last message from Andi, sniffing as tears threatened yet again.
No!There had to be some way that Carys could get over Rafi.Maybe eventually, she could handle seeing Andi and Rafi together.Or maybe…just maybe…Rafi would get tired of Andi and move on!
No, that was a terrible idea.Carys remembered how happy Andi had looked on Saturday.She’d been glowing as she’d leaned her head back to look up at Rafi.And he’d been happy as well.Damn it!This was all too much to handle!
She glanced into the window of the deli and…froze.Quickly, she looked away, but Carys definitely recognized the man following her.She’d only seen a quick glimpse of his reflection in the deli’s window, but she knew him.Unfortunately, Carys couldn’t rememberwhereshe’d seen him before.Had he been at the office?That would make sense since they were only two blocks from where she worked.But Carys was relatively sure that he didn’t work for the same company.Maybe he worked in one of the nearby offices?
Carys casually slipped into the deli, waiting to see what her “shadow” would do next.If the man strolled on by, Carys would laugh and tell herself that she was being paranoid.But if the man…oh no, hedid!The guy followed her into the deli, standing in line behind two other customers!
Okay, so he was following her.But why?Her thoughts flashed back to Beth’s minivan in the parking lot of her building, her father confronting her in front of her office, Tanya shoulder-checking her several days ago…and the letter from the law office!The mysterious letter in her bag.
Or…was this man the creep who had been breaking into her apartment and stealing random stuff?
Trying to appear normal, Carys stood in line, nibbling on her thumb as she tried to figure out a way to get away from the man.
But as she stood in line behind four other people, Carys turned slightly, using her peripheral vision to see if he was still there.
He was!
