Page 113 of The Boss

“I—” I can tell she’s struggling to come up with an answer, so I start talking for her.

“Go downstairs and hang out with Vanessa. If there are any numbers to look at, I’ll let you know, okay?” I whisper.

She nods. I softly kiss her and wrap her in a hug.

“We’re going to find who this is, bella.”

She swallows.

I lift her chin to look at me. “Hey, I know you’re scared. We’re going to find them. Now go downstairs and try to relax. I love you,” I say softly.

“I love you too,” she replies, and I kiss her again.

She walks out of the room, and I walk into my office. Mateo’s already looking over something at my desk.

“I thought you said these messages stopped?” Mateo asks.

“They did,” I reply as I sit at my desk.

“Why would they start again?” he asks.

“I have no fucking clue,” I say.

“Anything else outside of the messages that happened?”

“The flowers⁠—”

He cuts me off. “What flowers?” he asks.

“Some teenager dropped them off. They were left at her house for Juliet. She and Drew looked into it, but it was a dead end. It looked like whoever placed the order had no idea why they were doing it,” I tell him.

“Who was the teenager?”

“No clue; she said she lived nearby, but I had never seen her before,” I say.

“Could be a possibility that the kid knows something.”

“True,” I say. But I remember her looking nervous to even be here, so I doubt she had anything to do with any of this except finding the flowers.

“Do you still have access to the security camera footage from that day?” he asks.

“Yeah, I saved it just in case, never looked at it, though.”

“Pull it up; let's see if we can find anything,” he suggests.

I open my laptop and search for the footage. I start playing it, and once I get a clear view of the girl. I pause the video and turn the computer to Mateo.

“That’s her,” I say.

“Jesus, she’s just a kid,” he breathes. “Do you think someone paid her?”

“No, she said someone dropped them off at her house. She looked scared to come over here,” I say.

With Mateo and I deep in conversation, my gaze flicks to the door to find Ryan. I don’t know how long he’s been standing there, but clearly, it’s long enough to express shock.

“Ryan, you good?” I ask.

That gets him out of his frozen state.