I have to.
“Did he hurt her?”
“Not physically.” His jaw tightens. “But she was locked in a trunk on the hottest day of the year. For three hours.” A pause. “And there were things in there with her.”
“What things?”
“Dead animals. Rodents, mostly.” He shakes his head once. “By the time they found her, she was barely conscious.”
“Jesus.” My anger sharpens, contained but barely.
“She didn’t speak for a year.”
My jaw tightens. Heat crawls up my spine.
“Is it him?” I ask. “The one who’s been harassing her?”
My hands curl at my sides. Nails bite into skin.
He drags his hands through his hair, then shakes his head.
“I thought it was,” he says. “That’s what I’ve been chasing in LA.” He blows out a breath he doesn’t quite finish. “He was supposed to be serving back-to-back sentences.”
He looks at the floor.
“He died. Three years ago.” He doesn’t look at me. “There was an incident at the jail. Transfer. Records were a mess. But it’s not him.”
I take it in and keep calm.
Up until the point my fist slams the counter. “She’s not going back to LA. Not with a psycho after her.”
“She doesn’t have a choice.” His voice hardens, matching mine. “The other reason I was in LA. was meeting with entertainment attorneys. She’s contractually obligated. Period.”
“Then she’ll—” I stop, searching for something. Anything. “She’ll quit her job.”
Gabe lets out a short, humorless laugh. “Right. Sure. My sister, who just landed the biggest role of her life, is going to simply walk away.”
Okay, fine. It sounds ridiculous when he says it.
Silence stretches.
My voice goes cold. “A maniac has full access to her. And we have nothing.”
“No. We have you.” He taps my chest. “No one knows who you really are. And you’ve got the perfect excuse to be close to her.”
A beat.
“My sister won’t suspect a thing. Nobody will.”
“Why me? There are three dozen men who could do this. All of them on my payroll.”
“It has to be you. Kali mentioned that the two of you met. A family friend.” He snorts to himself. “The lumberjack.”
“That’s me. I'm getting my shirts embroidered as we speak.”
“So,” Gabe says, watching me too closely, “you’ll do it?”
I don’t answer right away.
