“Yeah,” she said with no mirth in her laugh.“Almost as terrifying as…” She stopped and shook her head.
“Did something happen?”Damien asked.
She stared out the window, ignoring him.
Damien waited.She showed up.After almost a week of not being there, she was there.She let him sit.She talked.He could wait for her to say what she came to say.
“How did you find out where I work?”
“Your name is not very common, so a simple search brought up a lot more information about you than you probably realize is online.”
“Seriously?”She sucked in a shaky breath, drawing her lower lip between her teeth.Her hands shook as she wrapped them around her mug.
Damien reached for his pocket, and she jumped, nearly spilling her coffee everywhere.
“Shit,” she whispered.She stilled the mug before it toppled, then righted her muffin.She closed her eyes for a minute.
“I’m going to reach into my pocket, Harmony.I want to give you my card.”Damien waited until she looked at him to make a move.Her gaze tracked his movements, anxiety pouring off her.He pulled out his wallet and opened it on the table so she could see his license.
She leaned closer, and he did nothing to hide his identification.“Damien Joseph.”
“Yes.I work for a company called Rose Protection Agency.If I’d wanted to, I could have found your information, but I didn’t have to access any of the systems we have.Everything was public.”
“Which means anyone could find me.Any time.”
Damien nodded.“It does.And when I saw that, I started removing your data from the internet, but…”
“Anyone who looked before could have seen it and already have it.”
Damien nodded again.He extended his card to her.“This is me.We do a lot of work with the police, and I know Captain Patrick.”
“You do?”
“I do.He told me you were shaken up after the press conference.I was looking for you because I thought you looked scared.”
“You were there?”
Damien shook his head.“I watched it online.”
“Oh.”
“I didn’t know about it until it was broadcast, or I would have been.”
Harmony nodded, her hands gripping and releasing her mug as if it were the only tether she had to reality.She stared through the window, and Damien finally realized what she was looking at.
“Did he do something?”
Harmony shifted, then shook her head.
“You can tell me.And I can protect you.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“No, you don’t.But you can call Captain Patrick.You can look into my company.You can speak to my boss.You can do whatever you want that will make you trust me.”
“Why do you care?”
Damien exhaled a laugh.“I really wish I could explain, but I don’t know.I just do.”
