Jules rolled her bottom lip into her mouth. “Probably the same family and associates. Some friends. Not everyone. We mostly said the Caribbean.”
He kept pacing.
“Rhys, what aren’t you telling me?”
He didn’t have a clue. First, she’d gotten the oddball text message, and now this guy had knocked on her door. “Did he say anything about retiring?”
“Yeah, he said I’d have more time for family if I retired. Or something like that. I was flustered. He started in about Mason.”
What were the chances that the retirement line was random? Because Vincent Von Charles wasn’t her stalker. Rhys would let Titan and the FBI confirm that, but that man had been used. Her stalker had never brought anyone into the antics before. Why now, after taking that picture last night?
“Mason’s upset over losing you.”The access. The money.Mason Marlow was a big deal, but compared to Jules, he was a mid-lister with an expiration date. “He could have arranged for someone to bother you. He knows how to use the wordretire. He knows…” Rhys rubbed his temples. “But what would he get out of that?”
“I don’t know. He might be upset, but he’s not nuts. Not to mention Mason and Olivia are apparently just happy lovebirds, according to Sloane.” Jules wrinkled her nose. “There’s a reality show in the works to follow them through the pregnancy. It makes sense. She always wanted to break into acting, but nothing ever caught.”
That gave him pause but didn’t line up with Mason trying to scare his ex-fiancée for leaving him. It would create drama for a streaming reality show if a publicist wanted to play dirty, especially if the video that man had taken had been clipped apart and made into something else.
“What’s that look, Rhys? What does Mason have to do with the stalker outside my bungalow?”
“That guy was not your stalker.”
“I beg to differ. He knocked on my door and told me to retire. The text message last night confirms that he’s here.” She threaded her fingers through her hair and tugged. “You’re goingto tell me he hasn’t done anything illegal. That he hasn’t crossed the line to causing me fear or whatever the legal definition is. Well, screw fear. I’m angry. My privacy’s been invaded. He came to my honeymoon. That’s… That’s enough. Did you get his name? Can I finally get a restraining order?”
“I got his name. But we had to let him go. It’s not him.”
She tugged on her hair again. “How are you so sure?”
“Vincent Von Charles is staying here with his family. Someone texted an offer to comp his entire stay if he approached you. He thought it was a scammer text, but this morning, the resort informed him that a night had been paid for.”
She sank onto the corner of the bed, as though his words were too heavy to absorb.
“He replied to the text and received detailed instructions in exchange for comping his stay. He needed to approach you, ask about Mason, tell you to retire, and ask for a photo.”
She sucked in her cheeks, seeming to agree that it didn’t sound like her stalker, more like someone trying to replicate him.
Rhys blew out a long breath. “I called the front desk. The cheapest lodging at this resort starts at four figures a night and goes up, up, up. I didn’t ask what kind of bungalow he and his family were staying in, but it can’t be cheap. Paying for lodging for an entire visit? That kind of offer is hard to ignore, no matter the size of your bank account.”
Her mouth rounded as though she had a question, but she paused. Jules shook her head and tried again. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Exactly.”
“Is my stalker contracting out now? What the hell?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “It doesn’t make sense, does it?”
With her legs dangling off the side of the bed, she dropped back. His attention moved from the problem at hand to the beautiful woman, her hair splayed, not wearing a bra, lying on his bed. It took too many seconds to refocus.
“I sent everything to Dean already. I’ll talk to Viv after he has a chance to look into the guy and confirm what he told me.”
“What if he lied about who he was?”
“I took a picture of his license. It matched his credit cards. He would have done anything to make sure his wife didn’t find out about this.”
She sat up and bit her lip. “What now? I can’t sit still and think about that guy. Actually, I need coffee.”
“Same.”
“Can I have ten minutes to get ready, then can we get breakfast?”
