“How do you justify it? Is it because Markov’s rich? I bet a lot of women would be willing to forgive him his sins for a chance at all that money.”
Dana moved behind her desk. “I said, get out.”
“I just want you to have all the facts. You seem like a nice lady. Markov, on the other hand, is slime. He hurts people. Badly. And he doesn’t give a shit who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants.”
Dana pressed a button on her phone and buzzed the receptionist. “Jane, call the police. This man is harassing me.”
There was a flurry of exclamations on the other end as Jane assured her she was dialing 9-1-1.
“I won’t stay.” The man twisted one of the rose blooms on her bouquet, breaking it off in his hand. “But there are things you should know about charming Mr. Markov, things I’d be only too happy to tell you. Things the world will know about very soon.”
“The police are on their way.”
He tucked the rose into his shirt pocket, like some sort of creepy boutonniere. “Remember what I said. If you’re smart, you’ll stay far away from Alex Markov. I’d hate to see you on some other pool deck some day, with your brains smashed out.”
With a wink, he hurried out of her office and down the hall.
Dana knew she should be taking note of the man’s appearance, of the finer details, but as she picked up her cellphone to click to the notepad, her fingers could only type out one command. She texted Alex and asked him to come to her office. She didn’t want to alarm him, but when her fingers typed out a hasty message about being threatened, she clicked “send” without even reading it first.
As co-workers began to call her name, flooding into her office to check on her, she tried to breathe.
***
“Drink some water.” As the police officers left Dana’s office, Alex held out the bottle of water on her desk. His hands shook as he held it out for her.
Patterson had come for her.
He would pay.
When the plastic bottle buckled under Alex’s grip, he loosened his grip.
“I’m not thirsty.”
“Maybe you should take the day off.” Dana’s manager, a man named Phil, patted her on the back. “Hell, take the week, if you’d like.”
“No.”
“Dana,” said Alex. “Listen to Phil.”
“No. I have work to do. I’m not going to hide away just because some crackpot reporter decided to take a shot at me.”
When Dana had provided a description of the man to the police, Alex had recognized the similarities between the flower deliveryman and Patterson. The paparazzo had probably bribed the real deliveryman to hand over the flowers so he could get to Dana. The cops were going to follow up with the flower shop.
Alex waited a breath and regulated his voice. “That crackpot knows where you work. He knows where I live. He’s been watching us.”
“The police are on it, Alex, and you’ve already spoken to your security team. What more do you want me to do?”
“I want you to take some time off until they have their hands on Patterson. He’s out there right now. The man is clearly obsessed with hounding me, and now he’s trying to hurt me by intimidating you.”
“Taking some time off is not a problem,” agreed Phil. “I’ll cover your desk, Dana. I’ll handle your customers myself.”
“So I’m supposed to stay at home, twiddling my thumbs?”
“Actually, yes,” said Alex. “That would be great.”
“Alex, I can’t. I just took a week off. In this business, if I don’t look after my clients, they’ll find someone else who will.”
“Your clients are devoted to you.” Phil sat on the edge of her desk. “You know that as well as I do.”
