Page 93 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

This fucking bastard!

I grabbed everything and ran, hurrying to the old Camry parked in the garage. I’d walked over, but I’d be driving back. I wanted to catch this son of a bitch. Or at the very least, I would catch Daisy before she could hide her fear. I’d make her tell me what was going on. That way it wouldn’t alert her that I already knew she had a stalker.

Another stalker.

I drove as fast as I could over to Salazar Heights, parked, and practically ran up the back stairs. I used my keycard to access the stairwell. I didn’t want to alert the stalker by showing up coming out of the elevator. I’d come from around a corner and surprise him.

But when I rounded the corner, the surprise was on me.

He was gone.

“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath, wanting to punch a wall. I restrained myself and fumbled my keycard in my haste to get to Daisy. I needed to catch her while she was still crying, or, at the very least, upset.

I burst through the door, and she looked up at me in horror. Tears were streaking down her beautiful face. “What are you doing home so early?” she asked, wiping her face the best she could.

“I wanted to see you,” I said lamely, not having thought of an excuse on the way over. Why had I not realized she might have asked that? I got down on one knee next to her. “Hey,” I said, wiping her tears away as I pulled her into my arms. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at me, her eyes greener than I’d ever seen them. “I…” I could practically see her mind racing asshe tried to come up with a lie. Finally, she sighed, a large, heaving sigh that seemed to come from her toes, and told me the truth. “I have a stalker,” she admitted.

“What?” I did my best to sound authentic, but I’d never been known for being a good actor.

Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice. “Yes,” she choked out, “it’s been going on for months now, and I don’t know who it is. It’s, um, actually one of the reasons I signed up to be in the auction. I know he spied on me at Cinnamon House, and I was trying to protect the other girls by moving away. I thought he’d leave me alone once he saw I was in a relationship. But he’s still following me.”

I sat down heavily beside her and pulled her into my lap. “Like, on campus, or…”

“Everywhere,” she said, sounding desperate, heartbroken. “He knew we were in Savannah, he knew we bought a new computer, he sends me flowers, he texts me, he sends me notes.” She glanced at me. “And they are fucking crazy. Like, scary crazy.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, my blood going cold. “Show me.”

She got up, with my help, and walked over to the console table where a fresh bouquet of flowers lay. Next to it was a plain, square envelope with her name typed on it. “Here.”

I opened it.

Pretty Girl,

I can’t wait to play with you. It won’t be long now. Do you like games? It doesn’t matter—you’ll play mine. And you’ll like it. Or you’ll scream louder. But that’s okay. I like the screams.

I love you.

I hate you.

You’ll be mine soon.

I stared at her. “What the actual fuck?” This was so much worse than I thought.

She nodded. “I know. It’s bad.”

“We’re not putting up with this shit.” I pulled my phonefrom my pocket and dialed the mayor. I wouldn’t say we were friends, exactly, but he did like the prestige and tax dollars my video game empire brought to West Bay.

“Reynolds? I need you to get over to Salazar Heights as soon as possible.” I gave him Daisy’s condo number.

“Well, hello, to you, too, Jack. Always nice to be the recipient of your social graces,” he laughed. “I just finished fucking my wife. Care to tell me why I need to leave her arms to come see you?”

I heard his wife, Nadine, exclaim in horror in the background. “Don’t tell anyone that!”

Reynolds laughed softly.

“It’s about Daisy. She has a stalker.” I knew that Nadine and Daisy were friends, though they hadn’t seen each other much since the newlyweds had gotten back from their extended honeymoon.