Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Announce that you have a stalker?” He shook his head. “Nope. That’s not happening.”
“Why not?” She gave him a surprised look.
“Because that might just lead to other people getting the idea to send you awful messages or to start stalking you.”
“I think they’ll do it anyway, but I guess I see your point. What if we just threatened to release it to the public? Like I could write up something and send it to my mother’s publicist as a heads-up? See if that gets them to at least contact me.”
He stood and paced. “It’s still risky if the publicist runs with it.”
“She won’t without my mother’s permission.”
Corbin wasn’t sure he liked this idea. But he could see how it might work. Perhaps. It had been Hayes’ suggestion too.
“Just remember that it’s risky. It might backfire and she might clam up.”
“What have we got to lose?” she asked. “I need to know whether it’s her, Corbin. And she’s not going to confess. But she might get angry enough to let something slip.”
“But what if no one is around to hear her outburst? We need to catch her by surprise while we’re there.”
“Which would mean actually getting hold of them,” she muttered. “I’ll send something vague to her publicist. As in, we know who the stalker is and we’re going to send the information to the papers. Just giving her a heads up. Without saying it’s her.”
“That could work. I’ll let Kent know you’re up for it so we can work out how best to do it first.”
She stood and moved toward him. Opening his arms, he drew her close and kissed the top of her head.
“It would be a relief in some ways to know it’s her. I know that sounds terrible, but it would be the last straw. And it would mean there wasn’t someone out there with a knife trying to get to me.”
“I’m still sorry that this is happening, darling girl. You don’t deserve any of it.”
She leaned back to smile up at him. “I never would have met you if this hadn’t happened, though. And so it’s not something I’ll ever regret.”
“Hmm, I think we were destined to meet.”
“Yeah, maybe it was a wish come true, huh?” She had a strange look on her face before she drew away. “So, I need to do something. Can we go horse riding? Or climb a tree? Or BASE jumping? I’ve always wanted to try that.”
“No BASE jumping,” he told her firmly. “But horse riding, we can do.”
44
The next day, her phone started ringing.
Glancing at the screen, she saw it was her father.
Taking a deep breath, she fired off a quick text to Corbin before answering it. She’d just finished a therapy session, so it was good timing. She was holed up in one of JSI’s meeting rooms again.
Bebe answered the call on her laptop, unsurprised to find both her mother and father there.
“Bebe,” her father said with relief. “There you are. I’ve been so worried.”
He had? Funny way to show it.
The door opened in front of her, and Corbin slipped in, but she made sure not to move her gaze away from her parents. She didn’t want them to know someone else was there.
She also knew that there were recording devices in this room that Corbin had likely turned on. He’d warned her about them.
“Worried? You’ve got a funny way to show it,” she said.
“Bluebelle,” her mother said sharply. “Don’t speak to your father that way. We’ve been very concerned. And now we’ve received a message through Melanie that you’re about to make a big announcement about your stalker.”
Her father shot her mother a look before turning back to her. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry I’ve been so busy that I haven’t called. You know what touring is like.”
“I know,” she said bitterly. “But I thought you might have at least returned one of the three dozen calls I made to you. Or listened to at least one of the messages I left.”
“What calls? What messages?” he asked, looking genuinely confused. “What is going on?”
Her father might be neglectful, but she actually believed that he was confused.
“I’ve been calling for days. Ever since I was attacked and had to leave the city.”
“Attacked?” Her father grew pale. “Who attacked you?”
“Well, we thought it was the stalker.”
She watched her mother carefully and saw how the other woman’s face went completely blank. Easily done when it was filled with Botox.
She had nothing against using Botox, but overusing it could very well be a problem for her mother.
“I was out running when a man with a knife attacked Corbin. Sliced his arm while he was protecting me. We decided it would be safer if I moved to Sanctuary Ranch with him.”
“With him?” her mother asked. “What do you mean, with him?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I mean that I’m with him.”