“An accident, you say?”
Her father let out one of his gruff sounds, so she quickly added, “Lattie has a full inspection underway.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. How’s everything going otherwise? Any problems?”
“No problems.” And because he was still on her mind, she may have gushed a little bit when she said, “The opera house hired anew painter. Dad, you should see his work. It’s incredible! I’ll send you the link to the website so you can see for yourself.”
Another one of his sounds, this one of the, I-don’t-care-but-I’m-going-to-humor-you variety, so to pique his interest, she added, “He’s a former soldier.”
“What branch?”
“Er…” Good question. “You know, I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask him the next time I see him.” She’d be sure to add that to her ever-expanding list. There was so much about Erik she didn’t know, and she wanted to know everything.
She chatted a bit longer with her dad until he got called away and had to cut their conversation short. For a few minutes, she sat there on her couch, staring absently at the black screen of her TV. She hadn’t missed the doubt in her father’s tone when he’d questioned the incident at the opera house.Hadthe light falling been an accident? On the same day that someone had been in her dressing room?
“What? Is everyone stalking you?”
Forcefully pushing down the memory of that voice, she stood in a sudden rush. She needed air. Art supplies. She could go get art supplies. Erik had said he’d teach her a bit, and she’d need stuff to work with. Grabbing her bag and her keys, she locked up her apartment and headed out.
Outside, a woman was jogging alongside a beautiful husky on a leash. Chloe smiled and waved. She wouldlove to get a dog, and her landlord allowed them, provided she paid an extra pet deposit. Her rehearsal schedule was busy right now, but as soon as things slowed down, she’d make a point of visiting the local shelters.
With her mind on that as she approached her car, for a moment her brain had trouble processing what she was seeing on her windshield as she stumbled to a halt.
A single red rose, the long stem held in place by the wiper.
Her mouth went dry, and her heart raced.
It had started with a single red rose with an unsigned note attached to it.
Keeping her distance – she didn’t even want to touch the thing – Chloe looked, but didn’t see a note, and honestly, she couldn’t decide if that was better or worse.
Someone came out of the building, and Chloe jerked, her eyes shooting to them in a panic, but it was only Jayla. The woman had just recently moved in and had introduced herself to Chloe when they’d run into each other at the mailboxes. She seemed a friendly, outgoing type, and was even now smiling until her eyes fell on the rose. “Boyfriend?”
Chloe could have said yes, played it off, but at the moment, she couldn’t find it in her to dissemble. “No.”
“Get back in the building. Now.”
The order, so brusquely stated, surprised her. Even more so when Jayla grabbed her arm, keeping close enough to cover her as she hurried her back inside, while the entire time, the womanscanned their surroundings with an unmistakable professionalism that spoke volumes.
Suddenly, Chloe knew. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
Jayla looked her over. Her mouth, which had smiled so easily when they first met, was now pressed into a determined hyphen. “Yes.”
“Did my father hire you?” He must have known; he must have been keeping tabs on Jackson this whole time. It would also explain why he’d been calling so frequently lately when they used to only chat on her day off.
“Not exactly.”
“Who then?”
“Not here.” Jayla hustled her up the stairs to her apartment with one hand on Chloe’s upper arm while she pulled out her phone with the other hand and gave the voice command, “Call the general.”
The general?
A moment later, Chloe heard the familiar gruff voice of General Marshall Davies, one of her father’s military buddies, the man who’d helped relocate her here, and still occasionally dropped in for a visit to check on her.
Erik was at the opera house, checking Chloe’s dressing room, when he got the call from Jayla. A rose had been left on Chloe’s car. A message, or a threat, from Savoy. His protective instincts riled, he’d wanted to rush over there, but Jayla assured him she had it well in hand. She’d also confessed she’d had to break cover. Honestly, that was a relief. They could be upfront with Chloe now, which was what she deserved, and would also help them protect her better. Because in his gut, he knew Jackson Savoy was more dangerous than they’d been led to believe. General Davies had given them an account of what had transpired between Savoy and Chloe, but that account had come from Chloe’s dad, and Erik was now positive the man’s daughter must have downplayed the extent of Savoy’s obsession with her.
They’d seen on the surveillance feed that Savoy had only been in the dressing room for thirteen minutes, yet, to Erik’s heightened senses, the space reeked of him. As a cop, Savoy may have been careful not to leave fingerprints, might have even worn gloves, but he’d touched things, leaving his scent everywhere. Erik growled low in his throat. When they’d genetically engineered him in that lab, they’d spliced his DNA primarily with timber wolf, and that part of him itched to overwrite that scent, mark this territory as his to warn off anyone who thought to encroach.
