CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Jack
“What made you run away from Mr. Lancaster’s house in the first place?” Sheriff Richards asked, casting a slightly suspicious look at me. I’d told him multiple times that we’d had a fight, but he just didn’t seem to buy it.
Probably because it wasn’t true.
I stood off to the side of the large hospital room.
She was receiving treatment for a broken forearm, broken ribs, and a broken ankle.
There were also several deep cuts on her hands, forearms, and shoulders where she’d knocked the glass out of the window and tried to crawl out.
But the panes had been too small for her to fit through.
Daisy had told a harrowing story of how, even after she’d fallen once, she kept climbing back up the tower of boxes, sure that the only chance she had to survive was to somehow get out through the window. She’d fallen over and over again, hurting herself a little more each time.
It was awful to think about, and I tried not to. But I wasn’t very good at it. Especially because it was all my fault. If she hadn’t stumbled on my ‘observation’ room, she wouldn’t have ended up in that situation in the first place.
I’d insisted she have a private room at the hospital, of course, and now it was packed with her mother, her sisters, Nia, Jelly, Byron, Nadine and Reynolds, Carmen Salazar, and more.
I was an afterthought; forgotten over in a corner.
I was just the asshole who everyone thought fought with her and made her run out into the night and into the arms—well, van—of her psychotic stalker.
Only Daisy and I knew the truth.
Well, and Enzo Salazar. He’d done a good clean-up job.
He and his crew had cleared out the cameras, the monitors, any and all evidence that I’d been watching Daisy.
The sheriff had been displeased and suspicious when he’d found nothing incriminating when he’d searched my house in Estates at South, my penthouse, and Daisy’s condo.
I didn’t want to think about what kind of favor he’d ask me for one day.
“Everyone out,” the sheriff said, suddenly. “I need to ask Ms. Tiller some questions.”
I’d known this was coming. The nurse had announced this morning that the doctor had cleared Daisy for some deeper questioning by the police. They’d only been able to ask her the bare minimum up until now.
Everyone grumbled as they left. No one wanted to leave her after what she’d been through.
I cast one last look over my shoulder. I knew I might never see her again.
I knew she was about to tell them I was a stalker, too.
And I wouldn’t try to get out of it. I wouldn’t lie, even though the evidence against me was gone. I wouldn’t do that to Daisy.
No, I would confess everything when she told them what I’d done.
I wondered how they treated video game designers in jail. Maybe they’d go easy on me if they enjoyed playing CaveSphere.
I locked eyes with her, drinking in her features before holding up a hand in farewell, and turning to leave.
“Wait,” she said in a soft voice.
I stopped where I was but didn’t turn around. I was afraid to hope she was talking about me.
“What is it, Ms. Tiller?” the sheriff asked.
“Call me Daisy,” she said in that croaky voice that sounded so unlike her. She’d damaged her vocal cords she’d screamed so much. “I want Jack to stay.”
I whipped my head around, eyes darting to hers. She was looking at me intently, and I wondered if she just wanted to see my face when she told the police what I was. I hadn’t thought she was like that, but I wouldn’t blame her after everything she’d been through.
“You want Mr. Lancaster here for your questioning?”
She nodded.
“Alright, then.” The sheriff looked at me with curious eyes. “Daisy, what made you run from Mr. Lancaster’s house?”
I looked away, ashamed.
“We had a fight,” she said, and I looked back at her quickly, a frown of confusion on my face.
“A fight.” The sheriff’s tone said it all. He didn’t quite believe her.
“Yes. It was stupid, but I ran out, planning to go to my… previous residence.”
“You lived with roommates at the house Carmen Salazar owns in the same neighborhood, correct?”
“Right.” She took a deep breath. “I was angry because he patterned a video game character after me without telling me first. It all seems really stupid now.” She was talking to the sheriff but staring at me.
“I never should have run off in the dark like that. Especially knowing I have a stalker. That was,” she shook her head, “not smart.”
“You couldn’t have known Ivan was going to show up in that van,” the sheriff soothed. “He’d followed you around off and on for weeks waiting for the perfect time to take you.”
“Right.” She shuddered. That information clearly didn’t make her feel better.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Was she for real? Was she really not going to turn me in for being a stalker, too?
The sheriff glanced at me before turning back to Daisy. “So, there’s nothing else you need to tell me about Mr. Lancaster?”
She shook her head. “What would I have to tell you?”
“Nothing… it’s just I remembered seeing small video cameras in and around your condo when I was there to discuss your stalker. When I went back to check on them, they were gone. Do you know anything about those cameras, Ms. Tiller?”
Fuck. Sheriff Richards was a little sharper than I’d given him credit for.
There was a sharp knock on the door, startling me. I moved back, surprised when Carmen and Enzo Salazar entered the hospital room.
“Tate,” Enzo said, giving the sheriff a chin nod.
“Mr. Lancaster and Ms. Tiller are my clients,” Carmen said. “Daisy, you don’t have to answer any more questions.”
“But I don’t mind.” She looked perplexed. “Why would I need a lawyer?” she whispered to Carmen.
Carmen pasted a fake smile on her face and ignored her. She turned to the sheriff. “Tate, I believe I heard you ask about the video cameras placed in and around Ms. Tiller’s condo?”
“Well… yeah.” Tate Richards looked taken aback. And suspicious as hell.
“Those were placed by the Salazar Enterprises once we were made aware of Ms. Tiller’s stalker. They were for her protection.”
“Seems far-fetched,” Tate Richards looked at me cooly. He knew there was more to the story.
“There’s a lot that’s far-fetched around West Bay, Sheriff Richards,” Enzo said.
“It’s far-fetched, for instance, that an officer of the law would condone some of the things that happen at certain private clubs in town.
It’s equally far-fetched that a sheriff, such as yourself, would have the financial means to join any of the members-only Salazar clubs.
And yet… correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t I see your face often in both Cayenne and the VIP rooms at Sugar? ”
The sheriff’s face turned bright red. He looked pissed, but he managed a smile. “I guess you’re right, Enzo. That does seem far-fetched. I suppose unbelievable things happen every day.”
“Then we’re agreed, Sheriff Richards?” Carmen asked. “The only person who has done anything wrong is Ivan, Ms. Tiller’s stalker.”
“Correct.” The sheriff clenched his jaw and shot me a quick look before turning back to Daisy.
I glanced quickly at Enzo. He had a slight smirk on his face, and his eyes were on me. He gave me a subtle wink. “We’ll talk soon, Jack,” he whispered.
I suddenly felt like I’d made a deal with the Devil. I swallowed hard, but I nodded.
Daisy looked tired. “Why did he take me? What was he going to do?”
We all exchanged glances. “He planned to take you out of the country,” Sheriff Richards said gently.
“He had suitcases packed, plane tickets purchased, disguises for the two of you… it was well planned out. Thank goodness he went back to work to collect his last paycheck, or he might have succeeded.”
“I would have gone to the ends of the Earth to find you, Daisy,” I spoke up, furious the sheriff was telling her the truth. Daisy seemed too weak, too frail, to hear about Ivan’s disgusting plan.
Carmen gave me a look. “Dial the drama back a bit, huh, Jack? She’s exhausted.”
Daisy gave Carmen a quick smile. “Whatever his plan was, I’m just thrilled it didn’t work out. I… I need to know Ivan’s behind bars.” She turned her big green eyes on the sheriff.
The sheriff looked contrite. “Of course you do, sweetheart. He is most definitely behind bars. He can never hurt you again. I promise.”
She nodded, her eyes fluttering closed.
“I think we should all go,” I said, and started to follow the others out of the room.
“Jack, wait.” Daisy’s voice stopped me, and I turned around. “I want you to stay with me.”
“You do?”
She nodded and gestured to the chair by her bed.
I hurried over and sat down beside her. I barely noticed when the others left and closed the door.
I reached over to hold her hand, but she pulled it away. My eyes darted to hers, and my heart sank.
“Why?” she asked in her croaky voice. The doctors had assured us it would go back to normal with a few days of rest.
I wasn’t going to pretend as if I didn’t know what she was talking about. I hung my head. “I’m not sure. I… became obsessed with you after that whole soup collision in the elevator. I knew it was wrong. I just didn’t seem to be able to stop myself.”
She studied my face. “That day you dropped me off at Cinnamon House and you said you lived in Estates at South, too. You didn’t, did you?”
“No. Not then.” I wiped my hands on my jeans. They were starting to sweat. She was about to dump me. “But I bought one soon after that.”
“And when you crossed paths with me while jogging?”
I shook my head. “I knew your exercise route. I think you know I prefer jogging on a treadmill.”
“Why wouldn’t you just… I don’t know. Try harder to talk to me about everything? Before the auction?”