Page 58 of Chasin’s Surrender

“I should, but I don’t want to.”

“Why are you putting it off?”

The guys had looked into Melissa Roberts and her management agency and hadn’t found anything. The woman herself was squeaky clean and her staff, though not squeaky due to a few moving violations and one DUI, were clean. None of them had anything that would hint at violent or obsessive behavior.

Genevieve was quiet, and when her gaze dropped, Chasin prompted, “Babe?”

“She wants this record out by the end of the year. I don’t like to be rushed, she knows I write when I have something to write about. So she’s pushin’ for me to shop for songs to move the album forward. Which she knows I won’t do, so it’s annoying.”

Chasin sensed there was more, but when she didn’t immediately go on, he asked, “Shop for songs?”

“Record a song someone else wrote,” she explained.

“So, other than her pushing you, what else is holding you back?”

“Why do you think there’s something else?”

Chasin didn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled up. “Babe. You’re transparent. Something else is bugging you. I told you and Bobby we already ran her and her staff. You can—”

“It’s not that,” Genevieve cut him off. “I’m just not sure…”

Out of the corner of his eye, Chasin caught Weston’s approach. He kept his gaze where it was but called out to his friend, “What do you need, Weston?”

“Sorry to interrupt. But I need a word.”

Knowing that his teammate wouldn’t interrupt if it wasn’t crucial, Chasin combed his fingers through Genevieve’s silky, brown locks and let his hand fall to her hip. With a firm press of his lips to her forehead, he whispered, “Give me a minute and we’ll finish our conversation. Weston wouldn’t’ve driven out here if it wasn’t important.”

“It’s okay. You’re busy and—”

“Evie, honey, look at me.” Chasin waited until her eyes came back to him. “I’m never too busy. We’ll finish up.”

Chasin released her and turned toward the living room just as Bobby was coming down the stairs, phone in hand. “What’s going on?”

Weston’s eyes slid through the room, taking in the women but settling on Chasin.

Shit motherfucker. Something new. It took Chasin a split second to come to a conclusion and answer his friend’s unspoken question.

He didn’t want anything hidden from Genevieve so he asked, “What’d you find?”

“Another delivery,” Weston announced.

The man wasn’t prone to dramatics. If Weston was hesitating, it was bad.

“And?”

“It was left at the uncle’s house. No postmark. I took it to the office. Jameson and Alec are processing it. Jonny will be in later to pick it up and officially log it.”

“What is it?”

Weston’s body went stiff before he pulled his cell out of his back pocket, tapped the screen a few times, then held it out. Chasin didn’t waste any time moving across the room to take the phone. And when he looked down at the screen, he realized his mistake. He should’ve taken a moment to prepare but he hadn’t, and his reaction was anything but the calm he wanted to continue giving Genevieve.

“What the fuck?” he thundered and swiped the screen.

If the first snapshot of this sick fuck’s latest offering didn’t piss him off, the next picture did.

“He’s taking pictures of her,” Chasin growled. He swiped again and there was a third picture of Genevieve outside her uncle’s house. He immediately recognized the shorts and t-shirt she had on. “These were taken the day we moved her to the farm.”

Chasin heard Genevieve whimper, but he was so lost in his fury he couldn’t offer her the emotional support she needed. Not when he didn’t have a lock on his anger. He needed a minute to process what he was seeing and calm himself down.