10. CHAPTER 10
Way to go, dumbo! Alex braced himself, waiting for a barrage of questions that were about to hit him like a machine gun of words that would get fired off in rapid succession as soon as the shock wore off. This is not how I wanted this conversation to go. But his parent’s questions and suspicions would’ve snowballed, and he’d never been able to get a word in.
“May I?” Sam took pity on Alex, giving him a reassuring smile.
“Please,” Alex said and turned to see Daniella looking at him wide-eyed. He reached out and took her hand. He was pleasantly surprised when her fingers curled into his, making his pulse go wild. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Daniella said softly, and she gave a nervous laugh. “I’m not sure I’d have handled that any better. Your parents went from warm and fuzzy to daunting in one second.”
Like pouring water on Gizmo in the Gremlins!Emily added.
Yes, my whole family can become gremlins pretty quickly,Alex agreed.
He turned as Sam started talking, and Harley stepped up to support his uncle as they told the story.
I’m going to go talk to Shay and Reef,Emily signed.
Okay, sweetheart.Daniella let Emily go.
“You know, we could join the teens, too,” Alex told her, eyeing the door. “Then just slip out the doors and head to the beach before anyone knew we were gone.”
“Trust me, I was tempted to do just that a few minutes ago,” Daniella admitted.
“Do you want to make a break for it now?” Alex whispered.
“I wish we could,” Daniella told him. “But we have to face everyone, so we may as well do it now and get it over with.”
“You’re right.” Alex sighed. “I’m sorry I blurted it out like that. But my parents…” He rolled his eyes. “They can come on so strong.”
“I think they’re great,” Daniella told him. “I must admit to having felt so nervous about meeting them and was pleasantly surprised to see they were normal parents.” She smiled and shrugged. “You know, just rich, powerful ones.”
“Trust me, my parents are just like any other parents,” Alex assured her. “They can nag, support, scold, and they can still make my siblings and me feel like sixteen-year-olds when we’ve done something wrong.”
“You’re lucky to still have them,” Daniella pointed out.
“Yes,” Alex agreed with a nod. “I know. I’m sorry about your parents.”
“It’s been fifteen years, and I still miss them every day,” Daniella admitted.
“When my father had his first heart incident,” Alex told her, “I’ve never been so frightened.”
“When this is over, I don’t mind doing a consult for your dad,” Daniella offered.
“I’ll let him know,” Alex said. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Our Alex?” Victoria’s shocked voice echoed back to them.
Alex and Daniella were drawn back into the conversation that was happening around them. He felt Daniella’s hand tighten within his, and his pulse raced even more.
“Why is that so hard to believe?” Alex asked his parents. “I do good deeds all the time.”
“It’s not that, darling,” Victoria said. “And I didn’t mean it in a negative way. I’m just surprised and so proud, that’s all.”
“Doctor Thornton, if there is anything we can do to help,” Arthur told Daniella. “Please, don’t hesitate to call.” He looked at Sam. “Anything you need, Sam.”
“Thank you, Arthur,” Sam said to Alex’s father. “I appreciate that. I hope that this won’t spill over onto anyone else in your family.”
“Let it spill.” Victoria’s voice was filled with vehemence. “You became part of our extended family that moment you all welcomed ours into your lives in Plum Island and made them feel like part of the community.” She gave Daniella a bright smile that made Alex roll his eyes as he knew what was coming. “A month ago, I only had one daughter and grandchild. Then Ethan and Carly got together, and I got another daughter and a grandson.”
“Thank you, Victoria,” Carly said graciously. “It was so nice to have been so warmly welcomed into your family and to accept Reef as you have done.”
“Carly, you and your son have made Ethan and Shay so happy,” Victoria assured her. “I should be thanking you for bringing love back into their lives.” Her eyes turned back to Alex and Daniella. “I know the circumstances aren’t conventional. But then some of the best marriages never started off as planned.”
“Mother…” Alex warned. “This is a marriage of convenience.” But Alex saw the knowing look flash in his mother’s eyes. Shoot, she knows. He sighed. “Please don’t make Daniella uncomfortable.”
“It’s okay,” Daniella assured him. “It’s refreshing to see how close your family is.”
“Thank you, dear,” Victoria said to Daniella. “And if we’re going to pull this off as a real fairy tale romance, you’ll need to call me Vicky or Mom if you prefer.”
“Mother!” Alex and Ethan said in unison, shaking their heads at their mother.
“Vicky, sweetheart, you’re putting a lot of pressure on Doctor Thornton.” Arthur grinned as he looked at Alex. He, too, had that knowing glint with a hint of pride shining in his eyes before addressing Daniella. “Please excuse my wife. She’s got a good heart and gets over enthusiastic when it comes to helping anyone.”
“I do!” Victoria admitted. “I’m sorry, dear.”
“It’s fine, really,” Daniella reassured them. “And please, call me Dani or Daniella.”
Alex and Daniella sat through another hour of questions, plans, and suggestions, and by the time his parents hung up, he felt like he’d just run a marathon.
“Oh, gosh, look at the time,” Jennifer pointed to her wristwatch. “Harley, we need to finish packing and leave for Boston soon.”
“I need to get ready as well now that we’re also going to Boston with all of you,” Carly stated and turned to Ethan. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” Ethan nodded and looked at Alex. “We’ll chat later!”
Carly called Shay and Reef, and the four of them left, closely followed by Jennifer, Harley, and Sam. Quiet fell in the room. Alex was about to offer more juice or coffee when Daniella’s phone rang.
“Excuse me,” Daniella stood. “I have to take this; it’s the clinic.”
Daniella walked out the glass doors, leaving him with Harriet, Dawn, and Emily, who all sat scrutinizing him.
“What?” Alex shrugged.
Before they could answer, they were interrupted when Daniella rushed back into the room.
“I’m sorry,” Daniella said. “I have to go. There’s an emergency at the clinic.” She looked at Emily, signing. Honey, grab your things. I’ll drop you off at home so you can get ready for Boston.
Emily nodded, gathered her backpack, and Hicks. She said goodbye to Harriet and Dawn. Alex walked Daniella and Emily to the door.
“I’ll call you as soon as I’m done at the clinic,” Daniella promised.
“Be careful,” Alex said, waving them off.
When they were gone, Alex hoped he could sneak into his room unnoticed by Harriet and Dawn, but when he turned around, they were standing behind him waiting.
“Are you crazy?” Harriet asked in disbelief.
“Why do you have to do everything backward?” Dawn shook her head and gestured with her hands. “You were supposed to change, then try to win Daniella’s heart, and then get married.”
“You’re not supposed to marry Daniella, win her heart, and change,“ Harriet pointed out. “I know you had good intentions, Alex. Earlier, when I said it’s the grand gestures that count—this isn’t what I meant.”
“Are you all forgetting that this isn’t about me?” Alex felt satisfaction flow through him as Harriet and Dawn both raised their eyebrows in disbelief. “This is about Daniella and Emily. Men like Jackson see her as a stray sheep with no flock. And now I know that’s really going to rile you both us as strong, independent women—“
“But the man’s a narcissist,” Dawn added. “In his world, a woman needs a man, and she becomes his possession.”
“Obsession more like it!” Harriet shook her head.
“As soon as the creep set his sights on Daniella, she became his,” Alex pointed out. “Now that he knows where she is, he’s going to come for her. Especially now that the FBI has found out about his and his congressman father’s little side drug hustle.”
“Wouldn’t he just flee and find another obsession?” Harriet wondered.
“No.” Alex shook his head. “I fear that he’ll think if Daniella could escape and hide out here, he’ll be safe at least to come and find her. Or worse, he’ll have his spy grab her.”
“What is happening about Stanley Wells?” Dawn asked.
“Ethan and Harley don’t want to spook him,” Alex answered. “Ethan is going to call a meeting with the key staff members in the section he works in, and Harley is going to grab him.”
“Nice!” Harriet nodded. “Maybe he can lead Harley and Sam right to the creep.”
“When Harley suggested Daniella and I pretend to be in a relationship, it was because anyone linked to me is bound to hit the news,” Alex explained.
“You’re throwing chum in the water to catch a shark,” Harriet said, and Alex nodded.
“Because of my… research, I know that Jackson won’t stop if he thinks there is even the teeniest chance he can still get Daniella back,“ Alex said. “A relationship, and I fear even an engagement, isn’t a full commitment. If we’re married I can protect both Daniella and Emily. Last time that Jackson creep took Emily and then tried to get the courts to let him foster her because he feared Daniella wasn’t a good parent or in the right frame of mind.”
“It’s scary how someone can bend the truth and then get everyone around you to believe it.” Dawn shuddered. “That man needs to be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
“I don’t know if he’ll get life,” Alex told them. “I’m not sure what the laws are for what Jackson and his father have been doing by selling drugs. I know Jackson will also lose his medical license, and Sam has assured us that the man and his father will be in prison for a very long time.”
“At least Daniella and Emily will be safe then,” Dawn said.
“Until he gets out of jail,” Harriet said. “So let’s hope by then you’ve won Daniella’s heart!”
“It’s a very nice thing you’re doing, Alex,” Dawn said, her pride shining in her eyes. “I’m so proud of you. I’m starting to think that you never forgot how to be a nice guy. You just chose to ignore him.”
“While I agree with Dawn about what you’re doing for Daniella is gallant,” Harriet said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously, “you still have to prove yourself.”
“Harry, really?” Dawn said incredulously. “By Alex’s own admission, he fell for Daniella the moment he saw her.”
“And when was that?” Harriet reminded them. “When he was stalking Daniella, hunting her down to dig up dirt on Carly to ruin his twin brother’s relationship?”
“That’s not what I was doing!” Alex defended his actions. “Ethan had just been through that whole scene with his ex-wife who, even though they were divorced, still had him right where she wanted him.”
“Ethan’s ex-wife had a problem, and what Ethan was doing was noble,” Harriet pointed out. “And he was doing it for their daughter, Shay, more than he was doing it for his ex-wife.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Alex corrected Harriet. “Ethan was still in love with Beth. When he gives his heart, it’s with a no-return policy.”
“So you were protecting Ethan when you ruined Carly’s and Ethan’s careers over false evidence?” Harriet pointed out. “Then went after her family trying to get dirt on her.”
“That’s not why I went to find Daniella,” Alex corrected Harriet. “Carly had recommended her cousin, who at the time was Doctor Daniella McKay, to Ethan for our father to see about his heart condition.”
“Oh!” Harriet said, her brows going up. “I didn’t know that.”
“That’s because Ethan forgot about it when his life blew up around that time, and Paul went after him, blaming Ethan for Beth’s death,” Alex told them. “Despite how I felt about Carly at the time, I was petrified for my dad, and I’d found out that Daniella was the best in her field.”
“Daniella was the doctor you were trying to find?” Dawn’s eyes widened in realization.
“Hold on.” Harriet’s eyes narrowed accusingly as they pinpointed Dawn. “You knew about this?”
“Alex may have mentioned it.” Dawn shrugged.
“I thought the two of you hardly spoke,” Harriet said, raising one eyebrow as she put Dawn on the spot.
“We don’t speak as much as we used to,” Dawn hedged. “I mean, after you left with Prince Not-so-Charming, Alex and I only had each other.”
“Yeah. Brad was married and being disowned by his family. Ethan was with Beth,” Alex pointed out. “And you..” Thinking about how Harriet had left him when he needed her the most still stung, but surprisingly not as much as it once did. “You were off riding into the sunset on Prince Not-so-Charming’s dark steed. Dawn and I were left with no one else but each other.”
“We kind of just kept up talking,” Dawn admitted to Harriet.
“So the two of you are closer than you let on?” Harriet looked hurt.
“We never said otherwise,” Alex pointed out. “Everyone just assumed we were like you and I, Harry.”
“And we just never corrected anyone.” Dawn shrugged. “I mean, I’ve never agreed with Alex’s lifestyle but I understood it.”
“Understood it?” Harriet looked at Dawn, and Alex could feel her hackles rise. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“How did this get to be about mine and Alex’s friendship?” Dawn asked. “This is about Alex and Daniella getting married.” She neatly steered the conversation away from a touchy subject.
Alex watched Harriet purse her lips and nod. He could tell that this conversation was far from over and knew Harriet well enough to know it would be broached again. Maybe it was time they got into it, as it wasn’t until they all descended on Plum Island that, other than stealing his champagne at parties, an icy hello, and scathing remarks, Harriet avoided Alex. It had been that way since Ethan and Alex’s twenty-first and the big blow-up they’d had.
He glanced at Dawn. She’d become his Harriet when he needed someone, and he hadn’t even had to ask. Dawn had just been there by his side, helping him cope when his life was tilted, and everything in his world had changed so drastically. Alex would never forget everything Dawn had done for him, and that was why he’d always sided with Dawn, even when it meant nearly ending his life-long friendship with Brad Danes.
Alex had realized a long time ago that while growing up, they were mainly a tight group of friends that consisted of Brad, Ethan, Alex, Harriet, and Dawn. They also had the besties within the group. For Ethan, it was Brad and Alex with Harriet and Dawn. Dawn teetered between the two, and she was always the quiet voice of reason when their shenanigans were about to get out of hand. But Alex and Harriet had been really close. They knew each other better than they knew themselves, while Dawn knew them all that way. And she was always happy to take a back seat just observing and getting lost in her writing.
“Alex!” Harriet snapped him out of his thoughts. “I hope you’re not dreaming about your upcoming nuptials because it’s not a real marriage except in the eyes of the law.” She folded her arms, and a half smile lifted the one side of her mouth as she pointed out. “While this marriage may seem galant, what about when it’s over?”
Dawn’s face dropped, and her eyes widened at the implications behind Harriet’s words. “You don’t have time to draw up a prenup.”
“And you’re getting married in Boston.” Harriet gave him a smug grin. “Which means that you could potentially lose your boat and your house.”
“Daniella wouldn’t do that,” Alex assured them. “Just like I wouldn’t take anything of hers.” He shrugged as a thought struck him. “And besides, I’ll probably give her the house anyway.” He glanced around. “She has a family, and this house needs to be filled with a family.”
“Now I know that fever affected your brain,” Harriet told him. “First, you wanted to give her your yacht; now, you want to give Daniella your house.”
“You can’t buy someone’s affection, Alex,” Dawn told him.
“I’m not trying to buy her affection,” Alex said frustratedly. “That’s not what I meant.”
He ran a hand through his hair as he realized that might be what Daniella would think, too. Alex made a mental note to call his attorney and discuss the best way to secretly give Daniella his house.
“We know that, Alex,” Dawn told him in her quiet, soothing voice. “But you’re trying to win Daniella’s heart, not buy it. And after hearing her story, she’s already had a bad history with a narcissistic control freak. So maybe don’t mention giving your house to her.”
“Or at least not until you’ve won her heart by showing her who you truly are,” Harriet advised. “Then, by all means, put the house in her name. I wouldn’t mind you putting it in my name if you really wanted to give it away right now,” she teased.
“I’ve already put first dibs on the house if Alex wants to sell it,” Dawn told her with a big grin.
“You can’t put dibs on a house,” Harriet stated.
“You put dibs on Alex’s yacht if he killed himself in his new Ferrari,” Dawn pointed out.
“You did what?” Alex spluttered, gaping at his friend in disbelief. “You put dibs on my yacht?”
“Well, you bought that death trap of a Ferrari,” Harriet admitted. “The way you drive I was just getting my bid in before anyone else claimed your boat.”
“You don’t even like boats that much,” Alex reminded her.
“I like the Black Ocean,” Harriet said. “It’s a beautiful super yacht.”
“It really is,” Dawn agreed. “I even convinced Alex to sail me here on it.”
“Dawn!” Alex sighed.
“Sailing with Alex and Ethan to Plum Island was your idea?“ Harriet looked at her in disbelief. “Dawn, you get seasick just standing on it in the dry docks.”
“I got this new seasick medication that was supposed to work,” Dawn explained. “But it didn’t.”
“No, it didn’t,” Alex concurred. “And I was the one who was blamed for dragging you here on my boat.”
“All you had to do was say that,” Harriet exclaimed. “Instead, you went all Alex doesn’t give a fiddle for anyone and told me that yours and Dawn’s father thought it would be a good publicity stunt for the show.”
“They did think that,” Alex told her. “I wasn’t lying about it.”
“But you let me believe that you didn’t care that Dawn was so sick when you docked here,” Harriet accused him before turning to Dawn. “And you let me accuse Alex.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t feeling great, and I hardly paid any attention to what you were saying,” Dawn admitted.
Before Alex could respond, his phone rang, and he frowned when he saw it was a blocked number.
“Who is it?” Dawn and Harriet asked in unison.
“It’s a blocked number,” Alex told them before answering. “Hello?”
“Is this Alex Blackwell?” A woman asked him.
“Who wants to know?” Alex asked.
“I’m calling from the Boston Celebrity Splash magazine,” the woman told him.
“I don’t know how you got this number,” Alex said, his voice icy cold as anger spurted through him. “But I don’t take unsolicited phone calls or give interviews over the phone.” He put a hand over the mic. “It’s a freakin’ reporter.”
The reporter told him, “Your soon-to-be wife told me that you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions.”
Alex went cold, and his brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”
“What?” Harriet whispered.
“Put it on speaker. We want to hear,” Dawn suggested.
Alex clicked it to the speaker, holding the phone in his hands.
“Doctor Daniella Thornton called me a few minutes ago to tell me the news about your upcoming wedding and gave me your phone number,” the woman informed him. “She told me all about how heroic you were being to help Doctor Thornton and her daughter.”
“Do you have the number you were called from by Doctor Thornton?” Alex asked, shock escalating through him at the thought that Daniella would do this.
“I do,” the reporter told him. “I was called from a landline, and when I called back to verify a few details, it was the Plum Island Clinic. I can give you that number if you like? Although I think after what I’ve been told that you’d know it.” She paused for a few minutes. “I didn’t manage to get Doctor Thornton’s number because she’d already left, and the woman on the other end of the phone wouldn’t give me the number.”
Alex, Harriet, and Dawn looked at each other in shocked disbelief.
“What did you say your name was again?” Alex asked.
“I didn’t,” the woman answered. “It’s Meg Parks from the Boston Celebrity Splash magazine.”
Alex watched as Harriet pulled out her phone and immediately started messaging her contacts in the media world.
“Do you know the exact time Doctor Thornton called you?” Alex asked.
“I can look on my phone,” Meg told him and went silent for a few seconds. “The call came in ten minutes ago.” She took a breath. “Mr. Blackwell, can you at least confirm that you and Doctor Thornton are getting married in Boston tomorrow?”
Alex looked to Harriet, now a celebrity agent, for guidance on how to answer that. Harriet looked up from her phone, holding out her hand for Alex to pass his over, and he did.
“Hello, Meg,” Harriet’s voice was cool with a lash of acid. “You’re speaking to Harriet Joyce, I’m Mr. Blackwell’s PR manager, and he won’t be answering any questions. Please check at the Blackwell Corporation’s press office should you want to make an appointment for an interview.”
“Yes, but I have him on the line now. I just want to know if it’s true that he’s getting married in a rush without a prenup or care of losing his house or fancy super yacht?” Meg didn’t take a breath as she got everything she wanted to know out.
“No comment,” Harriet told her. “Oh, and Meg, if a word of this gets printed in your rag, you won’t like the fallout. Reporters have been hounding Mr. Blackwell since he did that television show on which the host hinted at a secret love interest. And will go to any length to get the scoop like fake a phone call from a clinic where Doctor Thornton works.”
“Fake phone call?” Meg sounded skeptical. “You would say that, though, wouldn’t you, to cover the truth that Alex Blackwell has finally found a woman that he can’t have, so now he’s marrying her in the guise of being her hero to get what he wants.” Her voice became scathing. “If you don’t answer the questions I’ve asked, that is what will be printed in next week’s edition of the magazine.”
“Trust me, sweety,” Harriet said in a voice that dripped with confidence. “You print that, and the rag you work for will be history before the story hits the headlines, and as for you…” She paused for dramatic effect. “You’ll never work as a reporter or in any form of the media again.”
“Typical rich people,” Meg sneered. “You shut everyone up just because you don’t want the world to read the truth.”
“No, Meg,” Harriet corrected her. “We shut up people like you that want to print lies and twist it so people believe it.”
“You can’t threaten me like this,” Meg hissed. “My boss will see to that.”
Harriet’s phone beeped, and she glanced at him. “Oh, sweety, I think you’d better take that call that is about to come your way because I’ve just got confirmation from your boss that he’ll tend to the situation.”
“What?” Meg spluttered. “You called my boss? What are you? Twelve that you had to run to my boss to tattle on me?”
“No,” Harriet denied. “I merely made sure that Mr. Blackwell’s attorney called your boss to let him know one of his reporters is harassing Mr. Blackwell with an unsolicited phone call and threatening to print a bunch of lies from a false tipoff.”
“I didn’t get a false tipoff. I called the clinic, and they confirmed that Doctor Thornton worked there and had just left moments before I called her back,” Meg stuck her ground.
“The only problem with your story is that Doctor Thornton wasn’t at the clinic at the time of the telephone call, which can be verified by about twenty people at a store where she was at the time of the call,” Harriet told Meg. “Doctor Thornton had, in fact, left the clinic half an hour before the alleged call from her to you from the clinic.”
“What?” Meg breathed, her confusion evident in her voice.
“If you were a good investigative reporter, which I believe is what you’re aspiring to be from your bios, you’d have dug deeper,“ Harriet pointed out. “Especially before calling and harassing Mr. Blackwell. Good day, Meg and please don’t call this number again.”
With that, Harriet hung up and handed Alex his phone back. “Let’s hope she doesn’t print her rubbish, as that magazine is apparently all about sensation rather than the truth.”
“Thank you, Harry, you handled that like the pro you are.” Alex’s voice resonated with gratitude.
“I hate it when reporters do that,” Harriet fumed. “How many people’s lives have they ruined by twisting the truth?”
“I can’t believe Daniella would do this,” Alex said in disbelief.
Harriet’s phone bleeped once again and she shook her head before looking at Alex, frowning. “Daniella didn’t do this.” Her eyes scanned the message on her phone. “According to Harley, Daniella went to the clinic but they were surprised to see her and hadn’t called her.”
“There was no emergency?” Alex’s eyes widened while worry and fear sliced through him.
“No.” Harriet shook her head. “As she left the clinic, she called Harley to let him know what had happened and Daniella was scared that Doctor Jackson was already in Plum Island and had started playing his games.”
“So what you said to Meg about Daniella was the truth?” Alex looked at her, amazed.
“Most of it,” Harriet confirmed. “Except for the part about the store. Daniella went straight home, terrified about Doctor Jackson being somewhere on the island.”
“Now I’m afraid he’s on the island,” Alex admitted. “But Meg said that Daniella had called her, indicating it was a woman.”
“Doctor Creepo could’ve hired someone to call,” Dawn pointed out and frowned in confusion. “I just don’t understand how whoever called Meg would’ve known about your wedding plans. What’s even more worrying is whoever called somehow knew what we’d been talking about a few minutes before calling to tip off Meg.”
“Dawn’s right,” Alex said, going cold. “How did they know?” His eyes widened as he remembered the break-in at his house and yacht a few weeks ago before he was kidnapped.
“Maybe one of our circle accidentally tipped them off?” Harriet suggested.
Alex held up his hand and started to sign. Or maybe my house has been bugged. Maybe when they broke in here, it wasn’t to take anything but to install something?
Dawn’s eyes widened, and she leaned over to whisper what Alex had told her to Harriet.
Let’s act natural and talk about something else while I message Harley,Alex signed, and Dawn whispered to Harriet, who nodded.
“So, how about this weather?” Harriet said, grinning at the rolled eyes from Dawn and Alex. “It looks like it’s at least shining on you, and we should make the most of it outside while we still can and before reporters are swarming all over your house.”
Alex nodded, realizing what she was doing. “Let me just finish messaging Daniella to ask her what the heck is going on.”
Dawn added to the fake conversation, “Do you think Harley was lying about her whereabouts to cover for her?”
“I don’t know,” Alex sighed. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s lied to protect a loved one.”
He finished messaging Harley.
“I think a walk along the beach will help clear all our heads,” Harriet said.
A few minutes later, Alex, Harriet, and Dawn were perched on the rocks, waiting for Harley, who said he was on his way.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Alex said, soaking up the sun and staring out across the ocean. “My house break-in happened days before I was kidnapped by Carly’s crazed ex-husband.” He shook his head in confusion. “Long before anyone knew about Daniella and Doctor Jackson, or how I felt about her.”
“Stanley Wells has been on the island for over six months,” Dawn reminded him. “Maybe he put it all together. I mean, you do gravitate toward Daniella at your dinner parties.”
“That’s true,” Harriet agreed. “Daniella is the only woman you dance with at the parties.”
“Yes, but I’m not the only single guy on the island,” Alex pointed out.
“Yes, but you’re the only single guy with your reputation on the island,“ Harriet exclaimed.
“So you think that Stanley Wells was behind the break-in?” Alex’s brows drew together. “Didn’t Paul and Shaun take responsibility for it?”
“Did they?” Harriet asked. “I don’t recall it coming up.”
“Neither do I,” Dawn said.
“It wasn’t just my properties on Plum Island either,” Alex’s brows knit tighter together. “As far as I’m aware, nothing was taken.”
“If you’re going to plant bugs in someone’s home, why ransacked the place?” Dawn asked.
“To draw the attention away from something that may seem out of place, maybe?” Harley’s voice came from behind them, startling them. “Uncle Sam’s in the house now scanning for bugs. But I doubt someone who was planting bugs would have done as much damage to your house and boat as whoever broke into your properties did.”
“Maybe it was the paparazzi,” Harriet offered. “You have been causing a stir by not being in the limelight this past year and a bit.”
“That’s true,” Alex noted. “Especially when I kept my relationship with Monica out of the press out of respect for her and her family.”
“Well, she didn’t keep your breakup out of it,” Dawn harrumphed.
“No, she was rather vocal about how you dumped her at your engagement party,” Harriet reminded him of an earlier conversation.
“We weren’t engaged!” Alex spluttered irritably. “I’ve only ever asked two women to marry me, and like I said before, Monica Spiers wasn’t one of them.”
“Alex, why would you even go out with her in the first place?” Harriet asked with disbelief. “We all knew what a little drama queen she was growing up and how jealous she always was.”
“Yeah, even of her own sister,” Dawn said. “Poor Mel. It’s no wonder she never contacts her sister.”
Harley’s brows drew together as he glanced at his phone. “My Uncle found a few bugs already.”
“Oh, great,” Alex sighed, remembering the conversation he’d had with Harriet, Dawn, and Emily that morning about his feelings for Daniella. “This is just super great.”
“That would explain the message from this morning,” Harriet piped up. “Remember, we wondered why someone would send you a message about leaving Doctor Thornton alone.”
“Yes, she’s been to the house a lot over the past few days because you were sick,” Dawn said, steering the conversation away from its intended direction.
Alex smiled at her gratefully. “Do you think it could’ve been the paparazzi that planted the bugs in my house, hoping to get a scoop on who my secret love is?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time one of them has gone to such extremes,” Harriet said, nodding.
“But you said that your house had been ransacked,” Harley pointed out. “The paparazzi would stealthily sneak in and out, not wanting to bring attention to the fact they’d been there.”
“They did smash up things in your house pretty badly,” Dawn noted. “Almost like they were angry at you.”
Before Alex could answer, his phone beeped, and he pulled it out to see a message from another blocked caller.
Don’t even think about going through with your plans to marry Doctor Thornton, or I’ll make sure she knows exactly how much you know about her!