“Gamifies it? What does that even fucking mean?” Sebastian asked.
“The site has doers and donors. That’s what they’re referred to. The doers offer to make the donors’ fantasies of threatening the women who’ve turned them down a reality,” Bobby explained.
“I’ve heard about sites like this,” Everett said. “The donors pay to post threats against women they hate.”
“They also pay to upvote threats by others,” Bobby added. “The doers set a deadline, and whichever threat has the highest money pledged wins. The doer selects the threat, gets the cash, then goes out and terrorizes the woman being targeted.”
“That’s fucked up. What makes you think Gabrielle is being targeted on this site?” Sebastian asked.
“I searched for snakes in a purse and got a hit. Yesterday’s winning threat was exactly that. Steal everything out of the target’s purse and put poisonous snakes inside,” Bobby said.
“Anything in the threat about a note?” Sebastian asked.
Bobby shook his head. “But the target’s name was Black Butterfly.”
“Gabrielle’s entire Emerge Anew line is based on artwork depicting a black woman as a butterfly,” Sebastian said, remembering the journal she wrote in nearly every night. The journal she was going to show him when she went to grab it from her purse. She’d written about him inside it, and now it was in the hands of some punk bastard trying to scare her.
“Can you trace the doer profile?” Everett asked. “There’s a chance it could be Tony Brooks and not some other fucker, right?”
“I’m working on finding that out, but it won’t be easy. These bastards know how to hide. The encryption on these sites helps them stay hidden,” Bobby said. “In the meantime, I tracked down one of the last addresses for Tony Brooks. He lived with an aunt in Handweg Gardens in St. Killian.”
“Handweg is a rough neighborhood. The people there don’t trust cops.” Sebastian rubbed a hand down his face. “Even if the cops went to talk to the aunt, they may have come up empty.”
“But she might talk to me,” Everett said. “I’ll go over there first thing in the morning to see what I can find out.”
“And if Brooks left any kind of computer equipment or electronics, I need you to get it by any means necessary and bring it to me,” Bobby said.
“I can do that,” Everett agreed, then turned to Sebastian. “We’ll figure out who’s behind all of this and put an end to it. That’s a promise.”
Sebastian didn’t doubt his friends. He knew they would give him everything he needed to wipe these bastards off the planet. Stalking Gabrielle would be the last thing these fuckers did.
“Excuse me, Mr. Luttrell.”
Sebastian turned to see Gabrielle’s driver. “Is Gabrielle okay?”
“Yes, sir. But she needs to see you. She said it was extremely important.”
He didn’t need to hear another word.
Sebastian broke into a sprint and raced back to the police station.
Chapter31
None of this was what she wanted. It was what she was forced to do.
Gabrielle took a deep breath as Serena squeezed her hand. Her sister had arrived at the police station thirty minutes ago demanding that the St. Felipe police department provide round-the-clock protection for Gabrielle at a secure location. Seeing the fear and devastation in her sister’s eyes wasn’t the only thing that stopped Gabrielle from protesting this move. It was Brad explaining that the snakes in her purse were poisonous. If they’d gotten out and bitten her, the fast-acting venom would’ve killed her within the hour without medical care. She’d been hysterical as the snakes slithered along the deck, clinging to Sebastian as he carried her out of the house to the ATV, where they drove to King Estate.
But her mind had raced through thousands of what-ifs.
Only one had her terrified.
The one where Sebastian was attacked by the snake while trying to protect her. The thought of him dying in her arms because she didn’t know what to do or how to help him. She cared too much about him to let him get hurt because some psycho freak was obsessed with her.
“This isn’t like how it was with Damian,” Gabrielle said, turning to her sister. Everything between her and Damian before he kidnapped her was a secret she’d take to her grave, but he’d never sent threatening messages. It was the reason his abduction of her had come as a surprise.
“That’s what makes it so scary, Gabrielle. These are direct threats to your life, and they seem to be escalating,” Serena said.
Brad walked over and rested a hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder. His touch was warm and supportive as he caressed her arm, then gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
