Page 105 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

“I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t have told me all of this forever ago,” Nia repeated, clearly hurt. “I could’ve helped.” Nia had apparently been in the dark about the stalking up until Byron started watching over Daisy on campus.

“That’s not the main problem right now,” Jelly said, sounding decidedly less nice about it than she had the first time she’d said it.

Nia shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut for a second before opening them again. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry. She popped her neck as if she was preparing for a fight.

“Let’s do this. You have my full attention.”

They started to go through the list again, but I stopped them. “I think we can discount her old boyfriend, the guys from her classes, and all the other people not from the deli. I know it was a Dinardo’s catering van she got into tonight.”

Nia narrowed her eyes. “That’s just weird.”

“Why?”

“There were no catering events tonight. There was an office party in the early evening, but it would’ve been over hours ago. And it was nowhere near Estates at South.”

A cold chill went through me. I looked at the suspect board Jelly and Daisy had made. “So that leaves… Old Man Dinardo and Ivan? Can you tell me why each of them is on the board?”

Jelly bit her lip. “Daisy could tell you more about them. I just remember her saying that Old Man Dinardo sometimes looked at her a little too long, and that he talked about how pretty she was a lot. But she didn’t think he was her stalker.”

“What do you think of him,” I asked Nia.

“It’s not him. Yes, he notices that Daisy’s beautiful, but it’s more in a way that makes it clear he’s thinking of how she helps him, you know? Like having pretty girls working at the deli means more businessmen and college guys come in for lunch. It seems impersonal. I know because he treats me the same way.”

I nodded, still not entirely sure. “AndIvan? Who’s he?”

“Just the cook,” Jelly waved her hand. “Daisy thought I was crazy for putting him up here. I just noticed him staring at her one day when I swung by there to see her. She said he was her friend.”

“Is that true?” I asked Nia.

“Yes.” She seemed more hesitant. “But… well, I hadn’t had a chance to tell her this, but he’s been asking about her a lot the past few weeks. And he seemed kind of mad that she was with you now,” she admitted, looking at me with her distinctive eyes.

“Hmm.” Jelly frowned. “I’m not a fan of that.”

“Me neither. A thought occurred to me. Do you know who worked the catering event this afternoon, Nia?”

A shadow crossed over her face. “Ivan. It was Ivan.”

“Are you sure?” Jelly asked.

Nia nodded. “Yeah. I know because he doesn’t usually do the events alone, but Old Man Dinardo sent him by himself since it was a relatively small event. He helped him do the prep work at the deli, loaded the van, and sent Ivan on his way.”

“So, Ivan had the van.”

She nodded, looking miserable. “Sorry. I should have thought of that sooner.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I’m sure there are a few catering vans. Who else had one out this evening?”

“As far as I know, Ivan was the only one.”

Jelly and I stared at each other. “He’s our guy,” she said softly.

“Really?” Nia asked, skeptically. “I’ve known him for a while now. I don’t think he’d ever hurt someone.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to hurt her,” I said, not wanting to think about the content of the notes I’d seen.

Because whoever the fuck had left the ones addressed to ‘Pretty Girl’ sure as hell wanted to hurt her. If Daisy really did have two stalkers besides me, I could only hope that Ivan had written the other letters, the ones address to Daisy. Those letters weren’t great, but they were nowhere near as bad as the ‘Pretty Girl’ letters.

“Maybe,” Jelly said, doubtfully. “Do you know where Ivan lives?” she asked Nia.