7. CHAPTER 7
Daniella’s eyes landed on the large gold clock above the door to Uncle Sam’s living room—9 a.m. The sun cast a warm, golden glow over the interior of the room, making it feel warm, safe, and tranquil. Only, Daniella was feeling anything but peaceful. In fact, she no longer knew the meaning of that word as her world had been turbulent for the last three years. Daniella watched Uncle Sam walk around the room with a tray of steaming hot coffee that he served to the guests who had been summoned there for an urgent meeting. Daniella’s emotions fluctuated between anxiety and resolve as she looked at the four people whom, other than Uncle Sam, she was putting all her trust in. Six people who had already been through so much that Daniella felt awful about pulling them into her drama.
Harley, Jennifer, Carly, and Ethan had dropped everything as soon as they received Uncle Sam’s call to meet them right away. While they smiled and chatted, Daniella could see the concern reflected in their eyes. Especially her cousins Harley and Carly’s expressions, and Daniella suspected that they knew what was about to unfold at the meeting. While her cousins knew part of why Daniella and Emily had taken on new names and lived incognito, they didn’t know everything. As they knew Daniella was a private person, they respected that, knowing that when she was ready, she’d tell them. Daniella was far from prepared to relive that nightmare, but while it was daunting, it was long overdue.
Daniella had always preferred to handle her burdens alone, knowing that Uncle Sam would have her back if she needed him. But the events of the early morning had forced a change in tactic. Not wanting to pull anyone else into her troubles, Daniella was ready to pack herself and Emily up and leave Plum Island, but Uncle Sam had convinced her that it was time to stand her ground to confront her past head-on. Plum Island was now Daniella’s Alamo, the final battlefield where she would either triumph over her demons or perish trying. Her eyes once again traversed the people in the room. People she needed standing with her to win this war. They were Daniella’s closest allies, and she needed them to be prepared. They needed to understand the gravity of the situation as there was a good possibility they would be targeted by her adversaries in their attempt to poison them against her.
Once Uncle Sam was finished serving the coffee, he went to the kitchen to get his own mug. When he left the room, Carly turned to Daniella.
“How’s Emily?” Carly asked Daniella.
“She’s a lot better,” Daniella answered. “Her leg is healing nicely, although it’s going to leave an awful scar.”
“I believe Harley and Jennifer are taking her to Boston this afternoon to see Doctor Grimsby.” Ethan took a sip of his coffee. “He’s the best, and I can attest to that.” He pointed to the barely visible scar on his left cheek. “He fixed this for me.”
“It’s a terrible name for a plastic surgeon, though.” Jennifer laughed, softening the tension that was gathering in the room like a pressure cooker about to explode. “You’d expect someone with a last name like that to be writing dark fairy tales.”
“I know.” Carly grinned, the worry in her eyes dissipating for a few seconds as they relaxed into small talk. She turned to Daniella. “Where is Emily?”
“I called Dawn earlier as Emily wanted to visit Alex and see how he was doing,” Daniella answered. “Dawn graciously invited her over to the Glasshouse for the morning.”
“My brother has always had a natural rapport with children,” Ethan told them. “I’ve always told Alex that he’d make an excellent father.”
“I can’t imagine Alex ever settling down, let alone becoming a father,” Carly stated.
“Yeah, me either.” Jennifer shook her head.
“Over the last year that Alex has been here, he hasn’t had any relationships…” Harley’s words trailed off, and he glanced at Ethan. “Except…” He snapped his fingers as he tried to remember the woman’s name.
“Monica Spiers,” Ethan filled in Harley’s memory gap. “If I think about it, while Alex still has his extravagant yacht or dinner parties, he hasn’t dated much in the past two to three years.”
“Now that you mention it,” Jennifer’s eyes narrowed contemplatively. “I remember that interview with Alex a year ago, right before production of The Cobble Cove Mysteries started.”
“Oh, yes,” Carly said. “I saw that.” She glanced at Ethan. “Alex was on Trinity Time, and Trinity asked him if he was having a secret love affair that no one knew about, as it had been ages since they’d last seen him with someone.”
“Yes, I remember that interview,” Ethan said. “Alex neatly told her that while our father was recovering, each of the Blackwell siblings had to do extra work. He didn’t have time to regale the public with his dating life.”
Daniella knew she should change the subject to a safer topic than Alex, but she found herself absorbing every bit of information about him. Learning about Alex was like peeling an onion. Each layer brought mild discomfort, but no matter how much it stung, she was irresistibly pulled in as each layer was more intriguing than the last. But he was also a distraction Daniella could ill afford, and trying to figure him only drew her deeper in, like a moth dancing with a flame. Because while she’d seen glimpses of a man who belied his public image, Daniella was not sure which of those faces was the real one.
She glanced around the room again and swallowed the panic that was simmering below her calm facade. Daniella was in the predicament she was in right now because she’d been unable to see behind a well-crafted mask, and she wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Before Daniella could find another topic to discuss while they waited for whatever was taking Uncle Sam so long, Jennifer saved her.
“I’m looking forward to going with Harley and Emily to Boston,” Jennifer told Daniella. “Thank you for letting us take her to her appointment.”
“I should thank you for helping me out,” Daniella said with as genuine a smile as she could muster. “I know Emily is so excited about a trip with you and Harley.”
“I just like going to Boston,” Harley admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Plum Island. I just sometimes miss the city.”
“Then you’re going to enjoy this trip because you may be there a few days longer than expected,” Sam told him as he finally joined them in the living room. “I’m sure you’re all aware that I called you here for a meeting, not to share pleasantries or for a coffee.”
“No, we pretty much assumed it had something to do with Daniella,” Carly stated, giving her cousin a reassuring smile. “I also feel like whatever’s happening is my fault.” She frowned. “I’m so sorry, Dani. The last thing I wanted was for you to be put in danger because I stepped back into the public eye.”
“I was the one that pushed you to,” Ethan said, his voice filled with regret and his eyes brimmed with apology as he looked at Daniella.
“It’s none of your faults,” Daniella assured them. “This was going to happen sooner or later.”
“I hope you’re not planning on leaving, Dani.” Carly’s voice was soft and laced with worry.
“No!” Daniella and Sam said in unison, a testament to their united front.
“Good, because we wouldn’t let you go,” Jennifer stated stubbornly. “We’re here for you, Daniella, and will help you with whatever you need.”
“Not only will you have us behind you,” Ethan told her. “But this town loves you, and from what I’ve witnessed, the residents are quite a force when it comes to protecting one of their own.”
“Thank you.” Daniella cleared her throat and fought back the tears. Her heart was filled with love, and each person in the room contributed to it.
“As we’re gathered here,” Harley took over the conversation, “I gather something’s happened that has convinced you both that Daniella and Emily are no longer safe here.”
“Yes,” Daniella nodded. “When I left Alex’s house after checking on him, I went to the all-night grocery store on Main Street. While I was there, I ran into a man…” She looked at Uncle Sam, who passed a photo he acquired of the man to Harley to pass around. “His appearance has changed, but he is a PI working for a firm in Los Angeles.”
“This morning, I found out that he has gotten himself a position on your film crew, Ethan,” Sam informed them. “He used to be a professional stuntman and has a filmmaking master’s degree in the fine arts.”
“Yes, I know him.” Ethan’s eyes widened as he took the photo from Harley. “Stan Wells. He started with us about six months ago as his predecessor had a car accident. The man is now one of our best cameramen.” He passed the photo to Carly. “He has also done a few stunts for the male lead in the series.”
Daniella’s eyes widened, and her heart lurched at Ethan’s words. The man had been here for six months watching her and Emily! Six months!So why run into me now? The more Daniella had thought out her encounter with Stanley Wells earlier, the more confident she was that their running into each other was no accident. From what she remembered of the man, while he appeared to be a bumbling idiot, each move was calculated with laser-sharp precision to ensure the desired outcome. Daniella suppressed a shudder, wondering what he was or had been up to.
“He’s been here for six months?” Harley’s voice was rough with disbelief and he turned toward his uncle. “Six months?” He shook his head. “I thought you had people keeping an eye on anyone involved with El Creepo.”
“Who?” Jennifer looked at Harley curiously.
“El Creepo is who we call the person who is the reason my cousin has to hide in the shadows,” Carly explained. “It was the Dark Lord, but it gave him too much character.”
Ethan looked toward Daniella. “I’m so sorry, Daniella. I didn’t know Stan was anything but what he claimed to be. All his references checked out.” He frowned. “If I recall, there was a four-year gap on his resume. Stan told me that he had to take a hiatus due to a train accident stunt and had the medical records to back his story.”
“I know all about that accident!“ Daniella said bitterly. “It nearly cost me my medical license.”
“Oh!” Ethan, Jennifer, and Carly exclaimed, staring at Daniella curiously.
“This is the man that accused you of killing his partner?” Carly held up the photo of Stanley Wells.
“Medical neglect that led to her death,” Daniella corrected Carly, feeling the burn of resentment and anger toward Stan well up inside her. “With no thanks to the hospital staff, administration, or El Creepo, and thanks to Carly’s fantastic attorney, I’d done nothing wrong. My medical decision was sound.”
“You were represented by Paige Garland?” Jennifer’s eyes widened in amazement.
“She used to be a defense attorney before switching to entertainment law,” Carly explained. “When she heard about Daniella’s case, she was more than happy to help.” She frowned. “Especially when she found out it was Doctor Ron Jackson. I don’t think she likes the man.”
“Did you ever ask her why?” Daniella had meant to ask Carly that during the hearing, but she’d forgotten. “When Doctor Jackson saw who was representing me, he went ashen in the face.”
“Yes, there was a lot of animosity between them.” Carly’s brow creased in contemplation. “If I remember, next time I see her, I’ll ask her.”
“Or we may need her to represent Daniella again,” Sam pointed out. “Depending on the outcome of what happens next.”
“I remember this guy!” Harley said, taking the photo from Carly. “Wasn’t he the man that muddled up the case files for Daniella’s case?”
“What do you mean?” Jennifer asked.
“We could never prove it, but Stanley Wells confronted Daniella in the hospital parking garage late one night to gloat about the evidence they had gathered on her and to give her a copy of it.” Harley’s brows knit tighter together in confusion.
“He sneered, acting all superior as if he and his defense team had me dead to rights,” Daniella explained. “But when I looked at the file, it had all the original medical files for his fiancée.”
“So you think he gave you the wrong file?” Ethan looked at her curiously.
“Yes.” Daniella nodded.
“Wait!” Jennifer’s brow furrowed. “I’m a bit confused.” She looked at Daniella. “You said that Stanley Wells is a PI working for a firm in Los Angeles? As you won the case he brought against you… is he here trying to dredge up dirt on you?” She looked confused. “Is he the person who stalked you?”
A few months after Daniella had moved back to Plum Island, she told Jennifer that she’d been stalked, which is why she had to use her grandmother’s family name, Thornton. But she hadn’t gone into the details, and Jennifer never pried.
“Daniella?” Uncle Sam looked at her pointedly. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
Daniella nodded and took a sip of her coffee, which was no longer steamy. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and ready herself for a trip down memory lane.
“Seven years ago, I lost my husband when he was killed in the line of duty,” Daniella decided to start at the beginning.
“Doctor Tom McKay was a brilliant trauma surgeon and US Marine,” Harley stated proudly. “He was a great man.”
“An excellent father and friend,” Carly added. “Between Tom, Harley, and Uncle Sam, I knew Reef would have excellent male role models despite who his father is.”
“Tom was a great man,” Sam agreed.
Daniella’s heart squeezed as her mind flashed to the photo she’d left beside her bed earlier. “Yes, he was.” She smiled, feeling the tears burn the back of her eyes. “We hadn’t even begun to properly cope with his loss when Emily got meningitis.”
“Alex told me that’s how she lost her hearing,” Ethan said.
“Yes.” Daniella nodded. “Alex is so kind and patient with her. He signs better than most people I know.”
“I know this isn’t in the medical records you have for Alex,” Ethan told her. “But what you just told me explains why Alex bonded with Emily so fast. He lost hearing in one ear due to contracting meningitis when he was twenty.”
“Oh!” Daniella’s eyes widened, and her heart squeezed a little tighter. “That’s why he signs so well?”
“Yes.” Ethan nodded. “He has an experimental cochlear device for his left ear, but doesn’t always use it.”
“I was thinking of cochlear implants for Emily,” Daniella admitted. “But we can’t afford it right now.” She gave a tight smile as there was a time when they could’ve. “We were coping with a lot after Emily recovered, but we found her hearing loss was permanent.”
“Oh, Daniella…” Jennifer’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “How awful.”
“I made sure Emily had all the medical and psychological help she needed while ensuring I was there for the emotional support,” Daniella told them. “That’s also when I started studying psychology.”
“Dani’s always been like that,” Sam noted, his eyes shining with pride as he looked at his niece. “She studies something until she completely understands it.” He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Thank goodness she started studying psychology back then, or she may not have recognized the signs of the mind games El Creepo was playing with her.”
“It was nearly two years to the day after Tom left us that the hospital I was working at got a new head of neurology after the last one left,” Daniella explained. “The hospital administration board was so excited to have been able to get him on board.”
“He’s supposedly one of the top five neurosurgeons in America,” Sam scoffed. “If you ask me, the man needs his brain checked, as something’s not wired right there.”
“Two years before Tom died, I had been promoted to head of the cardiothoracic department,” Daniella told them. “I was the youngest to hold the position, so I tended to work extra hard in order to prove I was worthy of it, as it’s a great honor at the hospital.”
“You were a cardiothoracic surgeon…” Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Wait!” His head shot toward Carly. “Daniella was the cardiothoracic surgeon you recommended for my father?”
“Yes,” Carly nodded. “Only Dani never got to see him because she left the hospital.”
“What’s wrong with your father?” Daniella asked Ethan.
“He has a heart problem,” Ethan told her. “My father recently had a valve replacement done.”
“Oh.” Daniella nodded. “It’s good that he’s stepped back from all the pressure of running a company such as Blackwell Productions.”
“That’s what my mother keeps telling me.” Ethan sighed. “So that would mean you used to work at Beverly Hills Surgical Center!” He looked impressed.
“I did,” Daniella confirmed. “I’d been working there for fourteen years before I had to leave.”
“But not because of Stanley Wells?” Ethan asked.
“No.” Daniella shook her head. “There is always a risk of something like that happening in the medical profession.”
“If we let her talk…” Jennifer leaned forward to say to Ethan. “Daniella will be able to tell us the story.”
“Sorry.” Ethan held up his hands. “I’m just trying to get a clear picture.” He turned to Daniella. “The new neurosurgeon joined Beverly Hills Surgical Center…”
“As I was up for the medical director position that was coming up the following year, I was given the task of making sure Doctor Jackson fit in,” Daniella continued her story. “I didn’t volunteer for the babysitting sitting task as I had enough on my plate as it was, but I wanted to make a good impression, so I took on the task.” She shook her head. “Doctor Jackson was the full package. Intelligent, charming, good-looking, and always quick to lend a helping hand or shoulder to cry on. The staff loved him, and he has an excellent bedside manner.”
“Most narcissists and sociopaths exhibit what I believe is called superficial charm,” Jennifer pointed out. “One of my non-fiction authors at my old company in New York wrote a book, ‘The Narcissistic Sociopath.’ It was all about antisocial personality disorder or APD. The book describes the superficial charm they display when it suits their purpose, and it’s a manipulative tactic they use.”
“I was still grieving the loss of Tom and trying to help my daughter cope with her new normal,” Daniella explained. “I wasn’t looking for a relationship, and I never gave any indication of the contrary. I kept Doctor Jackson at arm’s length but still offered him the common courtesy and working relationship I had with all the employees at the hospital.”
“I can vouch for that,” Carly backed her cousin. “At first, Doctor Jackson made Dani feel uncomfortable because of the way she would catch him staring at her.”
“I’m not being vain, so please don’t take my words the wrong way,” Daniella expressed. “But like most women, I’m used to the odd admiring look or even stare. I just fob it off or ignore it.” She couldn’t suppress the shudder remembering how he’d stare at her until Doctor Jackson saw she’d noticed.
“Daniella said Doctor Jackson sometimes creeped her out as he stared at her in a way she imagined a python measured its prey in order to successfully subdue and digest it.” Carly also shuddered.
“I fobbed it off and, after a while, stopped noticing.” Daniella’s mind started tumbling back to the past. “To be honest, I had so much going on in my life that Doctor Jackson’s leery looks were the least of my worries. And the man was really helpful and sweet. At least he was up until I blatantly rejected him.”
“Uh-oh!” Jennifer whispered, intently listening to Daniella’s story. “How did that come about?”
“Doctor Jackson had been working for the hospital for a little over a year when the annual black-tie dinner fundraiser came around,” Daniella answered. “I had already bought my ticket as I did every year, but after Tom Died, I stopped going to it.” She snorted. “It’s not that I didn’t like going anywhere on my own; I just didn’t need the constant reminders that Tom was no longer there to attend them with me.”
“I understand that,” Ethan said with a warm smile. “Not only are you surrounded by the haunting memory of them, but also by all the sympathetic stares and the people with good intentions reminding you of your loss.”
“Exactly,” Daniella gestured with her hand. “So, I stayed away from events like that. This particular event is held in early November. I wasn’t going to go, but Doctor Jackson’s date was canceled at the last minute, and he didn’t want to go to the event alone. He’s originally from New York and didn’t know a lot of people.”
“How convenient for him,” Jennifer snarled, getting pulled into the story and backing Daniella.
“Emily, Carly, and a good friend, Gail, who is the head of the nursing department, convinced me to use my own ticket and go to the dinner,” Daniella remembered that night as if it were yesterday. “I couldn’t remember when I’d last been out, so I decided to go. I saw no harm in it as Gail assured me that we’d all sit together that way. It wouldn’t be awkward or seem like a date with Doctor Jackson.”
“Gail didn’t make it to the dinner,” Harley picked up the story. “She was crossing the road on the way home on the afternoon of the dinner and was hit by a motorbike.”
“No!” Ethan and Jennifer said in disbelief.
“At the time, I just thought it was bad luck,” Daniella admitted. “I was going to cancel, but once I found out that Gail was alright except for a bruised leg, she convinced me to still go.”
“Now you have doubts that Gail’s accident was anything but,” Ethan guessed.
“Yes.” Daniella nodded. “When I realized I was being manipulated and stalked, there were too many other things that happened to be a mere coincidence.”
“Harley was also nearly run over by a motorbike when he came to stay with me for a few days when he was on leave from the military,” Daniella told them. “By a red motorbike that sounded like a similar one to the motorbike that hit Gail.”
“Does Doctor Jackson own a motorbike?” Jennifer asked.
“No, but Howard Cooper does,” Daniella answered. “Howard Cooper is the owner of Howard Cooper Investigations. His firm does a lot of investigations for the attorneys who represent hospitals in Los Angeles. But I’ll get to that part.”
“Daniella called me after she heard that Gail was okay.” Carly’s eyes darkened with emotion. “I couldn’t go with her.”
Images of that night flashed through Daniella’s mind, making her feel like her chest was in a vice.
“Are you okay, Dani?” Harley asked her gently.
Daniella nodded and pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s just hard to remember all this because it marks the start of a truly awful time when it felt like my world was thrown off its axis, and I wasn’t the one in control of which way it spun.”
“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to,” Jennifer assured her.
“No, it’s time to get it all out,” Daniella smiled gratefully. “I went to the dinner and was running late, and to my surprise, when I got there, I found that mine and Gail’s seats had been taken away.”
“Like no longer a place at the table taken away?” Ethan clarified.
“Yes.” Daniella took a breath. “I was not amused when I was led to a table for two and told that Doctor Jackson had organized it.”
“No, he didn’t!” Jennifer gasped. “How forward.”
“I made no attempt to cover my annoyance, but I didn’t want to make a scene as all the hospital board members were there.” Daniella felt her cheeks heat as though the thought still had the power to make her angry. “I felt like I’d been trapped into an intimate dinner with Doctor Jackson. I told him that I was uncomfortable with the arrangements, and he was all apologetic. His excuse was that he thought I’d be upset after my friend had been injured.”
“Lame!” Jennifer spat.
“I made it through the evening, and as soon as I could, made an excuse that I had to get home,” Daniella continued the story. “Much to my displeasure, Doctor Jackson also decided to call it a night and made sure I was once again trapped into sharing a cab with him.” She shook her head. “Two of the main board members were leaving at the same time as us. They were sharing a cab, and when they asked us where we stayed, it was in the same direction. The one member is all about going green and basically shamed me into sharing a cab with the man.”
“Wow!” Ethan breathed. “The man is one heck of a strategist.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Daniella assured him. “I don’t know why, but halfway to my house, I pretended to get a message from Carly and made the cab driver go to her house.”
“I was selling it at the time,” Carly told them.
“I tried to have the cab driver drop him off first, but he insisted on seeing me there safely.” Daniella shuddered again. “When I got out, he followed, and as I turned to say goodbye, he grabbed me and kissed me. I immediately pushed him away and told him that was not appropriate, that I have no idea why he’d think it was, and made it clear I had no affection for him whatsoever.”
“What he didn’t know was that a member of the paparazzi was waiting for Carly and had taped the entire thing,” Sam said with a grin.
“I also found out a few days later that he lived nowhere near me,” Daniella told them.
“Daniella’s rebuff became a challenge to him,” Sam added. “He started cornering her at work, sending her flowers and gifts, all of which she made her assistant document and take back to his office.”
“I just kept rebuffing his advances and rejecting his gifts,” Daniella told them, “until the accident with Stanley Wells and his fiancée. Then his mind games took another turn. He found a way to attack my career.”
“When Daniella won the case, thanks to Paige, Doctor Jackson had managed to convince the board to make him the medical director,” Sam told them. “Once he was in charge, he had even more power over Daniella’s career. She started looking for another position and was about to accept a partnership in private practice, but before she could take the offer, Doctor Jackson managed to get her declared mentally unfit to operate. He had her working under supervised practice.”
“The worst part is that the majority of the staff at the hospital backed him up,” Daniella snorted. “The thing is, subconsciously, I knew what he was doing, but I was so busy trying to avoid the man that I ended up playing into his hands. Staging scenarios where it would show me as becoming emotionally unstable and mentally unhinged.”
“All the while, he’d torment Daniella, stalking her in the corners where there were no witnesses to make sure Daniella knew all that was happening to her was her fault,” Sam explained. “He’d wait for her in the parking garage and tell her it could all stop. All she had to do was admit she had feelings for him as he knew she felt the same about him as he did her.”
“Good grief!” Jennifer’s eyes widened and filled with compassion when she looked at Daniella. “I’m so sorry you went through that. And NONE of that was your fault.”
“I know.” Daniella’s voice dropped. “I became the object of hospital gossip and pitying stares as if I truly was losing my mind. He had me followed by the same detective agency that Stanley Wells went to work for when the man became obsessed with proving his fiancée died because of my neglect.”
“Daniella worked in that environment for five months and eventually quit,” Sam picked up the story. “She had enough savings, her inheritance from her parents, and Tom’s insurance money. Enough for her and Emily to live comfortably on.”
“Until my accounts were hacked and all my money disappeared,” Daniella’s throat went dry. “But the funds were shown to have been used on numerous online gambling sites, paying off loan sharks, and making extravagant purchases.”
“So he made you look like you had a gambling addiction?” Ethan stared at her in disbelief.
Daniella nodded and continued. “By this point, Uncle Sam had already started talking to his contacts at the US Marshal’s office, but we had nothing to pin on him. I put my house up for sale, and I was going to move to New York to live with Carly until I could clear my name in the medical world,” Daniella told them. “The day we were about to leave, I got a call that Gail had been badly injured. Emily was still at school when I rushed to the hospital, but when I got there, Gail was as shocked as I was that she’d been in an accident.”
“Daniella called me and told me what had happened,” Sam said. “While I was on the phone with her, she got a call from the school. When Daniella’s fiance had collected Emily, she’d forgotten her blazer and pencil bag.”
“No!” Jennifer and Ethan paled.
“I was on hold when Daniella’s panicked voice hit me through the phone. All she said was he’d taken her!” Sam blew out a breath, and Daniella could see the story was upsetting him, too.
“Uncle Sam’s contacts had found Doctor Jackson within an hour and got Emily back.” Daniella felt her throat constrict. “He claimed that he was protecting her from me. But Emily didn’t know him except from the hospital, and Doctor Jackson was arrested for kidnapping.”
“That was until his congressman father got him released,” Sam told them. “We managed to get Doctor Jackson to recant his assessment that Daniella was unfit to work. Her medical license was fully reinstated, and we got a restraining order against him.”
“I got the partnership at the private practice. Emily and I temporarily moved to Carly’s Bel Air house while she was trying to sell it,” Daniella explained. “I thought it was over until three weeks after that, the threats, stalking, and him breaking into the house started.”
“Daniella and Emily were terrified. He even poisoned Hicks,” Sam told them. “But they managed to get him to the vet in time to save his life.”
“The only way we were ever going to get away from him was to leave everything we had behind, change our names, and disappear,” Daniella told them. “Thanks to Uncle Sam and his friends at the US Marshal’s office, we were able to do it.”
“Doctor Jackson had been so careful up until he got overconfident and left Daniella a voice message telling her there was nowhere she could run or hide that he wouldn’t find her,” Sam’s words sent shivers down her spine as he repeated that threat. “After we were able to get Daniella and Emily new names.”
Harley’s phone beeped. He read the message, and a smile spread across his lips. “That was a friend of mine from… I can’t tell you where. But I’ve just been sent some very interesting information about a highly illegal business run by Doctor Jackson and his father.”
“Seriously?” Daniella’s heart jolted. “What business?”
“The less you know, the better.” Harley handed his phone to Sam.
“I’ll make a few calls,” Sam told Harley. “Send that to me, then delete it from your phone.”
Sam looked at Daniella with confidence. “Your cousin may just have found a way to put Doctor Jackson and his father behind bars.” He smiled. “This is your ticket to finally being free from the shadow of your past and no longer living in fear.”
The prospect lifted her spirit, but nothing could happen until Harley handed over the information.
“Until the doctor is arrested, we need to be careful. Doctor Jackson has obviously had Daniella under surveillance for the past six months,” Harley warned them. “This means he knows who her close friends and acquaintances are. And until we’ve had time to go through the proper channels and take Stanley Wells in for questioning, all of us here need to be vigilant.”
“The last time he went after Daniella, the first people he targeted were anyone within her close circle,” Sam explained.
“When Gail wouldn’t believe Doctor Jackson and stuck by me, he started sending her…” Daniella didn’t get to finish her sentence as a voice at the door made her heart flip in her chest.
“Threatening messages?” Alex had all their attention turned to him, where he was leaning against the door frame, holding up his phone.