Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Max had just stepped off the elevator when he heard Lana scream.
He ran into the living room. She had a cardboard box in her hands, and she was staring into it, horror on her face.
“Lana, what is it?”
He took the box and looked inside. It was a piece of the scarf that had gone missing from the beach yesterday. And there was a note pinned to the scrap of fabric.
I told you I’d be watching. Soon, I’ll make you mine.
Max threw the box aside. It slid across the kitchen table.
“It was him,” she whimpered. “He watched us together.”
The stalker had stolen the scarf while they were in the water, and then used it to toy with her. Terrify her.
Max wrapped her in his embrace. He glanced at the box on the table, relieved that it hadn’t tipped over and spilled its contents. Max had been too pissed off a moment ago to be careful. But they needed that box as intact as possible, so they could analyze it for clues.
He’d have his team check the delivery service that brought it, find out exactly who had sent it, and from where.
“This asshole’s made a big mistake this time,” Max said. “We’ll be able to link this package back to his identity.”
Her face was buried against his chest, her arms tied around him. She breathed deeply for a couple of minutes, then lifted her head. A stoic look of calm had now replaced the fear.
“Can we start now?”
She didn’t even need to ask. “Of course, I will. Anything for my girl.” He kissed her hair. “I’ll get my team downstairs working on it, right away. I’ll have someone come up here and get the box and start making calls.” They would need to inform the police of this latest development as well.
“Will you stay here with me? I don’t want you to go.”
“That’s where it pays to be the boss. I’m not going anywhere.” Max wasn’t about to leave her side.
Fifteen minutes later, the box was gone, and Lana was lying on the couch beneath a blanket.
He walked over and sat down beside her. “Everyone downstairs has dropped their other projects to work on this.”
“I just keep thinking about how he was watching us. It makes me sick.”
He caressed her forehead. “It makes me upset, too.” He couldn’t even begin to express how much. “I shouldn’t have taken you out there. I thought nobody would pay any attention to us. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m not. I’m pissed. We should be able to have a few minutes of happiness together without some sicko ruining it. I’ve never been a vengeful person, but this guy is really testing me. I just want it to be over.”
“It will be. We’re going to find him.”
But three hours later, it was almost midnight, and they’d made no progress.
Sylvie and the others on his team had reached dead ends.
The courier service said a man wearing a hat and sunglasses had brought in the package, but he apparently used a fake name.
Max couldn’t believe the people were so unprofessional as to not even require an ID.
It wasn’t how he’d ever run his business. But there wasn’t anything he could do.
Nor had the box itself revealed any more clues. No fingerprints, no distinctive features that would allow either the box or its sender to be traced.
Max sat at his kitchen table, talking to Sylvie on his cell phone. “What about Dominic Crane? He said he was going to look into the burner phone connection. You spoke to his lawyer, right?”
“Yeah, we got through to Sandford’s office. But so far, they’ve got nothing.”
Max wasn’t sure what to make of that. If Dominic Crane was behind this, wouldn’t he swoop in with information at the exact moment that Lana needed it? Crane would want to manipulate her, make Lana feel that she owed him.
But that hadn’t happened, which suggested that Crane wasn’t actually involved.
Max still wondered if it was someone else inside the Syndicate. The stalker had been so careful. The man’s skills suggested he was a pro. He’d evaded both the police and Max’s own investigation.
Lana was getting ready for bed. She had the trial tomorrow, and Max would be testifying. Neither of them could spend any more time focused on the stalker.
“Okay, let’s all of us get some sleep,” he said to Sylvie. “While Lana and I are at the courthouse tomorrow, your group can keep working on this.”
“Got it, boss.”
Max went into the bedroom to find Lana sitting in a chair, calmly paging through her trial prep notebook. She looked up. “No luck?”
He shook his head, frustrated beyond belief that he hadn’t solved this for her yet. “I’m sorry. I’m going to keep working on it tomorrow after I testify, I promise.”
She got up and circled her arms around his neck. “I know you will. Let’s just get through tomorrow. I’m not letting that asshole do anything that could compromise the trial.”
They got into bed. Max remembered that it was their third night since they’d started sleeping together again.
Usually, when it came to a third night with a woman, he was mentally saying goodbye.
Either he was feeling a bit nostalgic about a few nights of satisfaction, or he was glad to move on.
But that wasn’t how he felt with Lana at all.
Tonight felt like only the beginning with her.
He knew they weren’t going to have sex, because they were both too upset and too tired for that.
But it didn’t remotely matter. He cared much more about just being here with her, making sure she felt comfortable.
He could imagine so many more nights like this.
Hopefully, not this stressful, but with the same level of closeness.
He wanted to be around for the highs and the lows. To share everything with her.
He’d always thought that he wasn’t boyfriend material. That he couldn’t give up his freedom for anyone. But for Lana, he was ready to give up pretty much anything to have her by his side.
“L, I’ve been thinking about what I said last night. I don’t want to take things one day at a time. Or one night at a time, either. I just want to be with you.”
“Do you mean, like a relationship?”
He heard so many different things in her voice. A little humor, a little skepticism. And a lot of hope.
“I think so.” Then, “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“You don’t sound very sure. We don’t have to rush into this.”
“This is the opposite of a rush. This is me taking ten years to tell you how I feel. I care about you. I want a relationship with you.”
I love you, he added silently, though he wanted a more perfect moment to say it. Not one that was marred by a stalker or by the distraction of the Hearst trial.
“Lana, will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes, Max,” she whispered.
He pulled her against him, smiling into the dark.