Mandy scowls at me.
“Fine.” I push away from the desk. “Next Saturday at dinner, I’ll be sure to mention it to your parents. I’m sure they’ll agree that you need to stop being stubborn and let me handle it.”
She grabs my arm, alarmed. “You cannot tell anyone. No one can know. You’re the only person in my life who knows. Promise me.”
I regard her impassively. “No.”
“Bastard.”
“Why do you have such terrible self-preservation skills?” Mindful of the fact that there’s a glass wall on my office, I force my hand down to my side before I can rest it on her waist.
“You saw my dad. He’s already over the edge—he killed off the lawn,” Mandy pleads. “He’s never done that before. Amy and Lauren are making him crazy. Amy moved out of the dorms because she says they’re too stressful for the baby, and she’s back living with my parents. Kenny is over there all the time, and my dad is at his limit.”
Her hands grab at the lapels of my suit jacket. “If Dad hears about the stalker, I don’t know what will happen. He’s already murdered the lawn. Please, Salinger. Just… I’m handling it.”
“No, you aren’t handling it. Tell me who the stalker is, andIwill handle it.”
“I’ve seen you handle things. You’d use a machine gun to kill a spider.”
“No, but I will use a machine gun to kill a stalker.”
“Which is why I’m not telling you.” She glares up at me. “I don’t need you to—”
“What?” I tilt my head. “Protect you? Of course you do.”
“Salinger…” She takes a deep breath and rests her palms flat on my chest. “I appreciate that you want to solve my problem, but I need you to trust me and respect my wishes on this. Thank you.”
Screw the glass wall. I reach out and grab her jaw, tilting her face up to mine.
“You’re being stalked by a violent man, Sweetheart. Fuck respecting your wishes and fuck your boundaries. I’m going to find him and annihilate him.”
As soon as she leaves my office, I call Hudson Wynter.
He picks up on the second ring. “Mr. Svensson, how can I help you?”
“Why are you using your business voice, Hudson?”
I can practically hear him roll his eyes.
“Fuck off, Salinger. I’ve been in a suit sitting in your brothers’ offices for the past six hours talking about foreign espionage with Svensson PharmaTech.”
“Doesn’t that basically amount to ‘don’t plug in a USB drive you find in the parking lot’—”
“And stay away from strip clubs advertising exotic women. Yeah.”
“Well, I have something more interesting for you. My…” Friend? Assistant? Woman I fantasize about? “My acquaintance has a stalker problem, and she won’t fucking tell me who it is, has some sort of independent-woman complex. Like I have time for that shit. I need you to find him. Name, address, schedule, blackmail material, the works. Blank check.”
Hudson quietly hisses through his teeth. “How soon do you need it?”
“Tomorrow.”
“We can’t get it on the schedule for a few weeks.”
“She could be dead by then.”
Hudson is an ice-cold bastard. “So keep her with you until I can get to it. We’re covered up with your brothers’ contracts right now. Garrett’s an asshole, by the way.”
“They made you wear a suit. Drop them, and do this for me. It won’t take you that long.”
