Hannah tried to control herself, but a sob escaped, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.Inhaling through her nose, she concentrated on her breathing, desperately trying to remember something, anything good.
She missed her sisters, missed her mother, missed her new brothers-in-law, and she missed South Africa.But while Stephen was out to hurt her in any way possible, she’d been staying as far away from them as possible.
She hadn’t even tried to attend Dana’s wedding to David Cavallo.Although Dana was her sister’s Caitlin’s best friend, she had become like a sister to all of them.Stephen would have known about it, and he would have been waiting at the airport as he’d been doing for the past two years.
She still wasn’t sure how he managed to always know where she would be, but she could assume he still had contact with some of the models.It could also be that he still had contact with Darryn Cavallo.
Darryn.Another sob threatened to escape, and she gulped in deep breaths.After all this time, she was still shocked that Darryn had chosen to believe what Stephen had to say about her, even after they had spent the most wonderful, earth-shattering days and nights of passion together.
It had to be the irony of all ironies that two of her sisters were now married to two of his brothers.Suddenly, he was part of her life again.
And even though he obviously still believed Stephen’s lies about her, he kept kissing her.Like the time in the airport on Mahé and while he was dancing with her during her sisters’ weddings.How was she supposed to understand such a man?
Hannah slowly got up and, still shivering, walked to her room.Sleep was nearly impossible nowadays and tonight she would not be able to close her eyes.All she could see was the yellow scarf falling, falling, falling.
She left her phone on the bedside table, pulled off her jeans, and crept under the duvet.
After she realized Stephen was, in fact, stalking her, she’d changed her phone number frequently, but he always had his way of finding out what it was, so she’d stopped changing it, and now she simply never answered calls from an unknown number.
Her eyes closed.In slow motion, the afternoon scene replayed itself in her mind’s eye.It had been such a lovely day and a fun-filled shoot.For a few minutes she’d actually forgotten about Stephen and his threats.
It was time to get security or something.She kept hoping Stephen would find someone else to bother, but she had now finally realized he wasn’t going to stop of his own accord.
Another sob escaped, and she sat up just as her phone started ringing.It was her sister Caitlin.She probably shouldn’t answer, because Caitlin would immediately know something was wrong.But if she didn’t pick up, her sister would worry.Hannah inhaled deeply, put a smile on her face, and answered the phone.
Chapter Three
Darryn wasn’t surewhy he was there.But somehow, being close to one of Hannah’s sisters always seemed to calm him down.He was feeling restless, kind of anxious, and he wasn’t sure why.He’d been working nonstop to get photos ready for the launch of their new hotel, and everything was running smoothly.
He hadn’t been sleeping well; he couldn’t stop thinking about Hannah.Nothing new—he was always thinking about her.But ever since the thought of asking her about Stephen White had popped up in his head, he kept coming back to the idea.
Over the last few days, his restlessness had increased, and with it, a feeling of dread kept him on edge.It was taking all his self-control not to jump on their company plane and go find Hannah.He’d hoped, maybe here, close to her sister, he’d be more settled.And maybe he’d hear something about Hannah’s whereabouts without having to ask.
“You look like hell,” said Don as they hugged.
Darryn shrugged and ignored the statement.“What are you doing all alone on a Saturday night?”Don asked as they entered the big living room.
A television was on and Darryn glanced at the flashing pictures.It was on a fashion channel, he would know; he watched it often enough.In the corner of the room, a huge square box was filled to the rim with toys.
“Just stopping by,” he said easily.“Donato asleep already?”
The stupid grin Don usually got when anyone talked about his son appeared immediately.“Yes, the little guy attended his first party today and fell asleep on the way home.”
“You’ll have to work on his stamina.In your heyday, you could party all night long.”Grinning, Darryn motioned toward the television.“And look what you’re now doing on a Saturday night.”
“Caitlin was watching the Paris Fashion Show.Hannah was one of the models.And then, of course, she had to talk to her on the phone right away.”He frowned.“We haven’t heard from Hannah in a while.Caitlin is still surprised she didn’t even attend Dana and David’s wedding and she’s worried about her, has been for some time now.”
Darryn rubbed his chest where the feeling of dread was more acute now.
“Don!”Caitlin’s anxious voice sounded down the corridor, and the next minute she was standing in the door, her eyes brimming with tears.She glanced in Darryn’s direction and nodded, but she walked into Don’s open arms.
“What’s wrong?”asked Don.
“It’s Hannah.Something is very, very wrong, but she—” She suddenly stopped speaking, stepped out of Don’s arms while grabbing the television remote.The voice that had been faint in the background now filled the entire room.
“It has been confirmed that it was Sophie Thomas who was pushed in front of a car, not Hannah Sutherland, as previously reported.”
Darryn’s heart simply stopped when he heard Hannah’s name and “pushed in front of a car” in one sentence.His heart was beating so loudly, it blocked out the rest of the guy’s words.
