Pulse

Chapter 8

Troy

I keep my eyes glued to Ford’s office at the end of the hall.

The pictures in Dahlia’s email are seared into my mind. As disturbing as it is to know someone was stalking her, it’s easier to think about them than the fear in her eyes.

There are so many things I want to say and more things I want to do. I want to know why she didn’t call me last night and how long this has been going on.

Who the fuck is this walking dead man?

I struggle to contain my rage. It takes everything I have not to explode and find the fucker who’s behind this.

But I don’t.

There’s a time for calm and a time for war. I need to be patient.

Someone will pay for this. And I’ll be the one to ring them up.

“Hey,” Dahlia whispers, coming to an abrupt halt. She looks at me with an unguarded fear that pierces my heart. “What are we doing? I’m just following you down the hall like a puppy.”

The hysteria swimming in her eyes earlier has faded, and I can tell she’s getting her wits about her again.

“We need to talk to Ford,” I say.

“But the email said not to alert the authorities.”

I pause and nod at Becca as she returns to her office. I wait for her door to close before I speak.

“The email is meant to intimidate you. You’re right. You don’t want to put this on a billboard until we get a handle on it and …” I stop short of saying murder the motherfucker who”s behind this. “And neutralize the threat.”

Her lips twitch. “That’s not what you were going to say.”

“You aren’t prepared for what I was going to say.”

The air between us grows thicker. Hotter. Between her doe eyes and my aching need to protect her, there are too many layers of added danger to this already precarious situation.

“Ford needs to know,” I say, circling us back to solid ground. “No person in this country is more equipped or capable of handling this situation.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Would this be your advice if I were your mother?”

I blink.

“That’s what people say to doctors to get them to tell them the truth,” she says. “They ask if the patient was their mother and if they’d recommend the treatment. So that’s what I’m asking you. If I were your mother, would this be your advice?”

I resist the urge to touch the side of her face. Instead, I bite back a confession on the tip of my tongue and answer her question. “Yes.”

Her shoulders straighten, and she lifts her chin. She inhales a shaky breath. “Okay.”

My knuckles rap against Ford’s door. Lincoln opens it almost immediately.

Dahlia’s eyes snap to mine.

“Give us one second, Lincoln, please,” I say.

He looks between us and then nods. The door shuts softly.

“Hey,” I say, loud enough for only Dahlia to hear. I want her to be empowered—not to feel like her life is out of her control. The last thing she needs is to walk into a room with three men and feel like she has no say in what happens to her. “You weren’t expecting Lincoln. I wasn’t either. He’s like a bad penny that keeps turning up.”

A faint smile touches her lips.

“If you aren’t comfortable discussing this in front of Lincoln, we’ll wait until he leaves,” I say. “This is your decision. You’re in the driver’s seat. I’m more than willing to take the steering wheel, but just tell me what you want.”

She hiccups a breath and holds it. “I don’t know what I want. I’m scared, Troy.”

My hands clench at my sides to keep from pulling her to me. As hard as that is, I know it’s about to get harder because I have no other choice. “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you with my life, and as ironic as it is, that’s what we’re dealing with here.”

“Now isn’t the time for jokes.”

She grins a wobbly smile. “I was going to tell you to let me live my life, but that probably won’t go over well either, huh?”

I narrow my eyes.

“Sorry,” she says, attempting to wipe her features clean. “It’s either make a joke or cry hysterically, and I’m an ugly crier. I also think I’m in shock right now.”

I open the door and guide her in before me. It snaps closed behind us.

Ford’s hands are folded on his desk, and he has a curious look on his face. Lincoln leans against a drawing table near the window, holding a cup of coffee. Surprisingly, there’s no humor anywhere to be found.

“We have a situation,” I say.

“What’s going on?”

Dahlia looks up at me and shakes her head, silently requesting I speak for her.

“Last night, Dahlia discovered someone has been breaking into her house when she’s not home,” I say, the words falling flat.

Ford’s brows arch. “How long has this been going on?”

“I’m not sure,” Dahlia says. “A few weeks, I think.”

“Did we change her locks?” Ford asks me. “Sweep her place for surveillance equipment?”

“Dahlia didn’t tell me until this morning,” I say.

Lincoln flinches.

“I called the police and then stayed the night at a friend’s,” she says. “This morning, a locksmith’s going to my house. My neighbor Burt is going to meet them there.”

“Do you have any idea who was breaking in?” Ford asks.

I hold up a hand. “We haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet.”

Ford’s face sobers.

“She received an email this morning,” I say.

“What kind of an email?” Ford asks.

I glance down at Dahlia. She’s wary. Without thinking, I again place my hand on the small of her back. Just like before, she immediately relaxes a little.

I don’t know what to think about this discovery—or if I want to think about it. Ever.

Dahlia turns back to Ford. “The email said that I should run or die.” She shudders against my palm. “It had pictures attached that show me at different places over the past month or so.”

Lincoln sets his mug on the table.

“I’m not sure what to do,” she says, glancing at the three of us. “It said not to tell the authorities or whoever it is will kill me. I think that’s what it meant. And I don’t think it’s a joke because of the pictures.” She tries to smile. “What am I supposed to do? Leave? Never come back? Do I walk around for the rest of my life knowing someone is out there … watching me?”

Ford stands, straightening his tie. “Don’t panic.”

“Troy said I could, and I’m teetering on the edge. It might be a relief to spiral into the abyss.”

Ford looks at me, and I shrug.

“I was kidding,” Dahlia says. “Can you guys not take a joke?”

“Do you have any thoughts on who might be behind this?” Ford asks, refocusing. “Is there anyone upset with you? Anyone who would want to hurt you?”

“I have an ex-boyfriend, Freddy. We broke up because he has a drug problem. Something I didn’t put together until it was too late.”

“Has he been coming around? Calling?” Ford asks, jotting notes on a pad of paper. “Threatening you?”

“Yes. Not really threatening me, just saying he can’t live without me. I thought it was probably him breaking into my house. But I doubt he’d threaten to kill me. We weren’t that serious.”

I clear my throat. “Whoever was breaking into the house was also involved in the pictures. One photo was of her in her bathroom.”

Dahlia’s jaw drops. “I didn’t think of that.”

“All right. I’ll have additional questions, but for now, let’s get a plan together,” Ford says.

I start to speak, but Dahlia cuts me off.

“No. Ford, no.” She shakes her head adamantly. “You do not have to do this.”

“Do what, exactly?” he asks.

“This isn’t your problem. You’re not even supposed to know about it.” She grips the back of a leather chair that faces his desk. “I’m going to call the police. Then I’ll go home, get a few things, and leave town.”

As if Ford’s waiting for my reaction, he turns to me with an expectant look.

There’s only one solution to this. While it might make things messier in the long run, and I wish to hell there was another answer because this is going to kill me, I trust no one else. It has to be me.

I nod and answer his unspoken question. “Vacation.”

Lincoln walks toward us. “I have a house on Kiawah Island. You can’t even get on the island without credentials. There are roaming security guards, gatehouses, and then I have my own security system, of course.”

“Jason Brewer owes me a favor,” Ford says, taking his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll borrow a Brewer Air plane. You’ll be there in a couple of hours. You can land at the executive airport and take a car to the island.”

Dahlia scoffs. “While you wrap up your vacation plans, I’m going to my desk to make some calls.” Her eyes widen in disbelief. “I don’t know if this is my resignation, Ford, or if … yeah. I don’t know.”

Ford chuckles. Lincoln grins. I look at the ceiling because I know her better than they do. She’s gonna be pissed.

“I’m glad you guys think this is funny,” she says, irritated.

Ford comes around the corner of his desk. “You’re not resigning, Dahlia. You’re going on a paid vacation.”

Her forehead wrinkles.

Ford looks at me.

Sure. Let me deliver the news.

“Do you know how I didn’t know if I was going to Laina’s or taking a vacation?” I ask.

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Yeah.”

“I chose a vacation.”

“Good for you.”

“And you’re going with me.”

She takes a step back, her eyes wide. “What?”

Lincoln chuckles, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. If this weren’t a serious conversation, I’d tell him to fuck off.

“I’m not going on a vacation with you,” she says, laughing in disbelief. “Have you not heard what I just said? Someone’s threatening to kill me, guys. Kill me. I have to leave.”

“You are leaving,” I say. “With me.”

“You are out of your mind, Castelli.”

“Quite possibly.”

She throws her hands up and turns to Ford. “You can’t be serious. I don’t know who’s after me. I don’t know when I can come back. You can’t pay me for … who knows how long. And what about Troy? You have stuff for him to do.”

“This is, at the end of the day, your decision,” I say, as much as it pains me. “But if you don’t go with me, I’m going to have to follow you around. And while I’m sure that would be entertaining, it would be a lot easier and more comfortable to let me take you to Lincoln’s house until Ford figures this out.”

“Oh, so you’re gonna stalk me, too?”

“Yes.”

She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. She just stares at me.

“Dahlia, I wish you would’ve called one of us last night,” Ford says.

“He doesn’t mean me,” Lincoln says. “I’m not good in these situations.”

Ford shakes his head. “But now that we know what’s going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we’re going to keep you safe.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You don’t have to,” I say, silently begging her to challenge me. “It’s done.”

She holds my gaze as Ford lists action points.

“I’ll have Hoda get you a new phone,” he says. “Turn yours off before you leave the office. Forward me the email you received. If you want, I can have someone from the office accompany a friend or a neighbor to your house to get a few things for you. We’ll have them sent to you tonight. Don’t tell anyone where you’re headed. If asked, say you’re taking a work trip and don’t know when you’ll return. Try to keep it vague.”

Dahlia nods, her eyes still on mine. The longer she watches me, the less fear I can see in her eyes.

“Talk to as few people as you can,” Ford says. “We need you off the grid as much as possible.”

“I got her,” I say, returning Dahlia’s ghost of a smile. “Just get us out of here.”

“I’ll call Jason now,” Ford says. “Lincoln, is everything good to go at your place?”

Lincoln clears his throat. “Yeah. It’s good. I should let you know, though, that we’ve been renovating. There’s only one working bedroom at the moment.”

Oh. Fuck.

Dahlia sucks in a quick breath.

“But I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he says, flinching when Ford fires him a look. “What?”

“One last thing,” Ford says carefully. “You mentioned your ex and that makes sense. But do you think this could have anything to do with your father?”

Dahlia’s face darkens, her chest rising and falling. She turns slowly to Ford.

“I know you must think this is related to him,” she says slowly, having told our boss about the parental situation shortly after she found out. “But I don’t. He has no motive. We’ve established a pretty good rapport.”

“He might not have a motive,” Ford says. “But the cartels might. Someone he does business with might. There’s a lot of activity surrounding your father. I know you know that.”

Lincoln’s brows pull together, but he stays quiet. For once.

Dahlia takes in a shaky breath. “I feel really bad that you’re getting involved in this.”

“You’re a part of our family,” Ford says. “We won’t let anything happen to you. I know Troy will have your back.”

She looks at me from the corner of her eye. I stand as stoically as possible.

“Troy, if you need anything from home, grab it now,” Ford says. “Dahlia, do you have anyone that can get anything you need from your house?”

“Yes. My friend Morgan.”

“Okay. Let’s get with Hoda and make those arrangements,” Ford says. “We’ll have you out of here as soon as we can.”

Ford and Lincoln chat quietly, leaving Dahlia and me a moment to talk.

“Hey,” I say, pulling her attention my way. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Is there anything you want me to grab while I’m out?”

She looks around the room, unanchored. “Troy, I don’t know. I’m overwhelmed.”

“It’s going to be okay. I’m with you every step of the way.”

The smile on her face sets off a myriad of emotions through me. On the one hand, the consolation in her features settles me. On the other hand, the mere fact that she’s dealing with this lights a fire deep in my soul that might be the death of me.

If she doesn’t kill me first.