Chapter Three
In all her time of working for them, Maci had never seen the Patterson brothers as flustered as they were working the LeBlanc case.
After their meeting with Nicholas LeBlanc, they’d camped out at the conference room table with the case notes from the tycoon’s head of security. Dorian Cane and his team had collected all the stalker’s letters and gifts as evidence, storing them carefully since LeBlanc hadn’t wanted to bring in law enforcement. That meant one wall of the San Antonio Security conference room was now piled high with boxes of letters, notes and printed photographs, plus the reports to go along with everything.
Three days and too many pots of coffee later, they were all frustrated, exhausted and no closer to having any leads on the stalker or any clue how to keep Stella LeBlanc safe. Every day that they didn’t have a plan, Chance became more stressed, the furrow between his brows more pronounced.
It’d only gotten worse when another of the stalker’s letters found its way into Stella’s mail. Whatever the letter contained was bad enough that Maci thought Chance might put his fist through the wall.
She had no idea why he was taking this so personally—he hadn’t seemed to do that for most of their other cases since she’d worked here. Maybe stalking was a sore subject for him.
And whether Chance was taking this personally or not didn’t matter. All of them needed help, so she’d done what she could. She’d secretly ferried sustenance of all kinds to the brothers in between her own phone calls and office work. Nutritional snacks and meals, since none of them were eating well.
Despite her best efforts to keep them functioning, they all had bags under their eyes the size of Volvos, with attitudes to match. It would have been almost funny if she hadn’t been so exhausted herself.
She’d somehow gotten some sort of stomach bug that wouldn’t quit right when the guys needed her most. She couldn’t take a sick day right now, so she hid it as best she could. She sprayed down everything with disinfectant and powered through.
“He could’ve killed her,” Luke said, rubbing his eyes as he tossed down a stack of photos from the most recent stalker incident. Maci tidied them, then walked around the table, replacing the tray of sandwiches and bringing a fresh pot of coffee.
Chance hit play on the video images. “I don’t think that was the intent. Stella and her driver were followed home from a local boutique she was doing a spotlight on for her YouTube channel.” He paused the video as all the guys studied it. “See how the other car nicked the trunk? He could’ve done a lot more damage.”
“See how the driver keeps his face averted?” Chance pointed to the image. “He knew we’d pull all photo and video footage we could get. It was a carefully constructed hit.”
Chance resumed the footage, and Maci winced as the vehicle containing Stella and her driver went into a tailspin. Thankfully, the guardrail stopped it before there was any major damage.
“This is a break in the pattern,” Chance said. “The first incident of actual violence.”
They all watched the footage again. Then again, sandwiches and coffee ignored.
It was Weston who finally stopped it. “We need a break. Watching this on repeat isn’t changing anything. Dorian has Stella on lockdown. Nothing is going to change tonight.”
Luke stood up. “I concur. I’m heading home to see my wife and get some sleep. Let’s meet back early and tackle this with fresh eyes.”
Maci could tell Chance wanted to argue but knew they were probably right.
“I need to see my tiny terror.” Brax stacked up some files in front of him. “He’s running Tessa ragged.”
It wasn’t long before they were heading out of the conference room.
“You coming, Chance?” Weston asked.
“I’m just going to look this over one more time and then I’ll leave.” The brothers didn’t respond to him with anything but eye rolls. If he had it his way, Chance would stay at the table until his body gave out or he found a solution. They knew better than to argue with him.
“You head out too, Maci. We’ll help clean up this mess in the morning,” Brax said with a mock glare and a wave.
Despite Brax’s words, as soon as the door locked behind them, she started gathering up the cups from the conference room. If she cleaned it up, they’d be able to think clearer. Starting again fresh tomorrow was a good idea.
“You’re exhausted. You should go home too,” she said when Chance threw down the pictures Luke had been looking through.
It was the first time she caught a good glimpse of Stella LeBlanc, and she stopped in shock.
Holy hell, the woman could have been Maci’s twin.
Stella had slightly longer hair in a more elaborate style, and her fashion and makeup were much more complex than what Maci wore, but they could easily have been sisters.
It was almost creepy how similar they looked.
“Yeah, I know I need to go home.” Chance scrubbed a hand down his face. “But this car accident doesn’t make sense. For so long, the stalker didn’t change his tactics. When they stopped working, he just found new ways to get his messages to Stella. He could’ve gotten dangerous much sooner...so why now? What caused him to attack her like that? And in a way that’s not terribly personal or inventive.”
Maci forced herself to look away from the photos of Stella. “Could the stalker have been upset about something? Maybe it was a warning.”
She stacked the cups and took them to the office’s small kitchen sink. She was rinsing them out, startled when she found Chance just behind her. She hadn’t heard him follow her—the man could be so damned silent when he wanted to be.
But he’d followed her into the kitchen to continue talking to her. That was something.
He sat down at the small table in the middle of the room. Her entire body was aware of how close he was.
“What the stalker did doesn’t feel like an emotional response. It feels like something else.”
She shut off the water and dried her hands. “Like what?” She gave in to her urges and stepped closer.
As if her hand was being powered by someone else’s brain, she ran her fingers through his soft hair. Chance tensed, and for a moment she thought he’d pull away. Then he relaxed into her touch, letting his head fall back to rest against her stomach. She nearly groaned, having forgotten how good it felt to touch Chance casually. The soft sigh as she scratched his scalp was enough for her to keep going.
“I don’t know. If the motive was profit, the stalker would’ve taken her and tried for a ransom. He—and I use that pronoun because statistically that’s the case, not because we know for sure—seems to want to get close to Stella, but not too close.”
“Could revenge on Nicholas LeBlanc be a motive?”
“Possibly, but if so, he’s moved very slowly over the past few weeks. Maybe the stalker is just toying with her.”
“That’s not generally the case, right?” Maci didn’t know much about stalking, but she did know that stalkers who did it just to toy with their victims were the minority.
He let out a sigh and leaned more fully against her. “Yeah. Generally, stalkers crave the emotional response the invasions of privacy forces on their victims. Someone doing it just to mess with Stella or Nicholas would be much more unpredictable.”
“Maybe it’s jealousy. She’s successful in her own right as an influencer, so maybe someone’s coming after her for that. Or they could feel slighted that she doesn’t see their support for her or something. A fan who has gone a little over the edge.”
Chance didn’t answer, but Maci could tell he was thinking, so she didn’t push. She just let him think.
“Maybe.” He pulled away, then turned to look at her. “How are you doing?”
She looked down at him, brows furrowed. “Me? You’re the one who hasn’t slept in days.”
Chance stood and cupped her cheek, running a thumb under her eye. “That may be true, but you haven’t been feeling well lately either. Are you okay?”
She knew she’d pay for it later but she let herself lean into Chance’s touch. Even in the middle of the week’s chaos, and with things so strained between them, he’d been watching. Checking on her. “Maybe we’re both working too hard.”
His eyes tracked over her, cataloging everything from her limp hair to her baggy clothes. She really hadn’t been feeling great, and her look was definitely more casual than usual. She almost apologized, but he shook his head. “You should go home, Maci. Get some rest.”
“I will if you will,” she joked, poking him in the stomach. When he pulled her into his arms unexpectedly, she knew she should pull away, but couldn’t force herself to do so. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d held her, and even though her brain was screaming at her to take a step back, to walk away, she couldn’t deny how well they fit together.
Of course, fitting together physically had never been their problem.
He trailed his nose across her cheek and down until it rested in the crook of her neck.
“Come home with me,” he whispered. His lips were so close to her skin, but he didn’t kiss her, and Maci wasn’t sure if she wanted him to or not. “We can just sleep if you want, but I want you in my bed again, Maci. I never wanted you to leave.”
There was no hiding the shiver that coursed through her body at his words, just like there was no hiding the gasp that came when he finally brushed his lips so softly against her skin.
Don’t let your libido cloud your judgment. Think before you act, Maci Ford.
Especially since her impulsiveness was what had gotten them into their awkward situation in the first place.
But his proposal was so tempting. She wanted to go home with Chance. She really did. She wanted to crawl into his cool sheets and fall asleep wrapped in his arms. She wanted to wake up in the morning to find him staring at her again. She wanted his hands on her after the two-month hiatus she’d forced on them.
But nothing had changed. Her mother showing up here in the parking lot a couple days ago was a reminder of that. Giving in, going home with him after so long, would make things even more muddied.
And honestly, she wasn’t sure how many more times she had the strength to walk away from him. She wanted him so much.
He wanted her too. He wanted her to say yes.
She was so tempted.
But when he found out about her past—who she’d come from, the things she’d done—it would be him walking away.
Not just him.
Maci’s breath froze in her lungs. Losing Chance would be terrible, but losing her job and the family she’d built here at San Antonio Security? That would be devastating.
She not only cared about Chance’s brothers but all their significant others... Tessa, Claire, Kayleigh. Maci loved baby Walker and Sheila and Clinton Patterson too.
It was already difficult to have a working relationship when no one knew what had actually happened between her and Chance. If she wanted to keep her life and job intact, Maci had to do her best to stay away from him. Even when every part of her body was begging her to stay.
“It’s better if I don’t,” Maci said, stepping out of his embrace even though it was agony.
He stiffened and let her go. “Okay. I’ll walk you to your car.”
He sounded so defeated that Maci almost took it back. She bit her tongue, holding back the words she wanted to say.
When he didn’t speak either, the two silently grabbed their things, locked the door and headed into the night together. Chance stuck close as they walked across the parking lot and checked the backseat after she unlocked the doors. Once he was sure the car was safe, he opened the door for her.
“Get home safe,” he said before closing her into the car. He didn’t move or look away until she was pulling out of the lot. Maci slowed, watching as he climbed into his truck and drove off.
Even after she’d rejected him, he’d still made sure she was safe. He was a protector in his very DNA. A good man.
And she was definitely the wrong woman for him.