Chapter 15
M atthieu was filled with rage.
He wasn’t sure the last time he’d felt this angry.
Negative emotions were a waste of time. While he’d been a bit of a hothead in his youth, he’d learned control since then. The last time he’d felt this angry had likely been when those damn twins had stolen his baby and crashed it.
But he was angry right now as he stared at the message spray-painted on Maya’s garage door.
When he’d gone outside to put the pizza boxes into the garbage bin, he’d decided it would be safer if the garage door was down. Which revealed what had been written on the door.
Matthieu glanced over at her. He had a feeling that he’d upset her just before when he’d called her little girl, then apologized. Only he wasn’t certain which part had upset her.
He definitely had no right to call her a little girl. But it had just slipped out.
Twice.
Fuck.
He winced. What was he thinking?
Well. He was thinking that she kept disobeying him and putting her health at risk and his hand was itching to spank her naughty ass.
He was going to have to have a firm word with her about obeying him.
It was difficult when she barely knew him, but she was going to have to trust him fast or they were going to both be in trouble.
Because if there was a real threat, she would have to listen and obey. Both of their lives could depend on it.
Worst case scenario but he’d learned to be prepared for any possibility.
That was what had kept him alive. And now his job was to keep her safe and alive.
Which would be a lot harder if she didn’t obey him. Or talk to him.
If she didn’t tell him about things like this.
“What is this?” he asked in a stern voice.
“It’s a garage door?”
“Now is not the time for jokes,” he told her sternly.
She winced.
“What is on the door?”
“Spray paint,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Maya, now is also not the time to keep secrets. What is this? When did it happen? Who did it?” He was going to kill them.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Stay calm.
He watched as a car drove slowly past. Was that the same car from earlier?
Fuck. He hadn’t messaged Brody yet.
“Have you seen that car before?” he snapped.
Calm.
It was getting harder and harder to find his calm.
Which was unusual for him. He was usually a very calm person.
“What car?” she asked, turning around.
“There’s a car that keeps driving past.” He moved closer to her. “We’re going inside while I send Brody the license plate. He works for Ink. And then you can explain why you didn’t tell me about the message on the garage door.”
He kept his gaze on his surroundings as he tried to herd her back inside.
Only, she dug her heels in as though she didn’t want to move.
“Maya. Inside. Now.”
She was definitely testing his patience right now.
“What sort of car was it?” she asked again. “I want to know.”
“BMW SUV. White. Late model.”
“Ryan,” she muttered as she headed down the driveway.
“What? You know who it is? Is it a neighbor? And where do you think you are going?” he demanded as he reached out and grasped hold of her arm.
“A neighbor?” she said incredulously. “Um, does this look like the sort of area where someone would be driving around a late model BMW? Although maybe the drug dealers would.”
“Are there a lot of drug dealers living here?” he asked in a strangled voice.
He couldn’t believe her family allowed her to live here. If he ever had a daughter, he would guard her like the treasure she would be. No way would she live somewhere like this. Not even if he had to work three jobs to ensure her safety.
“Um, there’s a couple,” she said. “But I never have any problems with them. And they don’t live here for long, usually they make enough money to move somewhere nicer.”
Right. Because this area wasn’t even nice enough for drug dealers. That made him feel so much better.
She started to walk again, but he didn’t let her go.
“Hey, let me go,” she argued, turning to glare up at him.
“You’re not going anywhere but into the house,” he informed her.
“Yes, I am. I’m going to go talk to Ryan. He might have seen who did this. Although I think I know who it is, I need an eyewitness.”
“You know who did this?” he asked, turning to look back at the words written on the door: Frigid Bitch.
Who the fuck had written something like that?
And where could he find them so he could fucking kill them?
“When did this happen? Who do you think did it?” he demanded.
Turning, she gave him a searching look before quickly glancing away again.
“Maya,” he said warningly. “When did this happen?”
“Sunday night,” she admitted.
“During the night?” he asked.
“Yeah. I heard something and went out. Didn’t see anything, but I was on edge so I stayed awake the rest of the night. Found that on my garage door the next morning.”
“Is that why you went to Callahan Security?” he asked. Now it made sense. Had she been wanting a security system after this happened?
“I thought maybe they could put in a security system for me,” she said. “I know it would cost a lot of money and that I wouldn’t see that back on a house in this neighborhood. But I need to protect my babies.”
God.
She cared about those animals so much. It was admirable and sweet. He got it. But also, it had to be scary for her being in this neighborhood on her own.
“I’m scared to leave them on their own,” she whispered in a stark voice. “I’m petrified he’s going to come back here and hurt them.”
“He who?” he asked in a low voice.
She bit her lip, looking scared.
It killed him that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him.
“Maya.” He turned her toward him, squeezing her hand lightly. It was dangerous to touch her, he’d learned that inside. But he couldn’t stop himself. “I know we don’t know each other, but you can trust me. I’m going to take care of you.”
“I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about my babies. If he hurts them . . .” She took in a deep breath. “I think a security system would make him hesitate. I hope it would. He wouldn’t want to be caught on camera.”
But if this guy was smart, he could get around that.
“I just don’t want him to hurt them and I don’t know how to stop him. But if Ryan saw him doing this . . .”
“Ryan is the guy in the BMW?”
“Yeah. So let me go so I can talk to him if he drives past again.”
“Who is he? How do you know him? Why does he keep driving past?” he asked, confused about what was going on here.
She shot him a look, moving her weight from foot to foot. Then she sighed. “His name is Ryan and I know him because he’s my old boss. Turned stalker.”
“Stalker?” he repeated, staring at her incredulously. “You have a stalker?”
“Kind of.”
“Kind of?” he repeated. Was she trying to kill him? A stalker? It was bad enough that she hadn’t mentioned the spray painting on the garage door, but she also had a stalker?
How long had he even known this girl for?
“You have a stalker and you didn’t think to mention that? What if he did this?”
“Um, no. I don’t think Ryan did this. He’s a hands-off stalker. And he’s really harmless.”
“Harmless? Your stalker is harmless.” He raised his gaze heavenward. “Her stalker is harmless.”
Maya glanced up at the sky.
Who was he talking to?
It was sort of odd. Was he losing his mind?
“Who are you talking to?”
“God,” he replied dryly. “I’m talking to God. I’m hoping that he has some answers for me. Because I do not understand how you can have a harmless stalker. Have you spoken to someone about this guy?”
“Spoken to someone?” she repeated.
“Like the police,” he explained.
She snorted. “Yeah, right. As if I can go to the cops about anything. You’ve forgotten who I am.”
“I haven’t forgotten who you are for a moment,” he replied.
His words sent a strange shiver up her spine. Maya wanted to sneak a glance at him. She peeked up to find him staring down at her intently.
Oh. Crap.
It felt like he had her trapped in his gaze.
She couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.
“Maya? Are you all right?”
Nope. She still couldn’t speak.
“Come with me. It’s clearly not that safe out here for you.”
He started moving her inside. And her body just followed him into the living room. He settled her on the sofa and crouched in front of her.
What was he doing?
He placed his hands on her legs. “I want to know why the Chief of Police’s daughter doesn’t feel she can go to the police when she’s being threatened.”
“Maybe because the person threatening me is a cop.”