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These measures might seem a bit extreme, but after everything that happened, I have no choice but to accept them. I bite my frustration since I have no idea when our stalker will decide to strike. After the disturbing call from Mr. Belington, I’m acutely aware that man is capable of despicable things. And the way Mark or even Darren are reacting to the threat speaks volumes to me.
“I just wanted to gift you with something.” He becomes more agitated as both my bodyguards gawk at him like eagles about to scratch the eyeballs out of his sockets.
“What is it?” I smile to encourage him to get over it as I see my date has arrived.
“Oh, this is just a drawing.” He looks so skittish as if he will bolt any moment. “I just thought you might want to have it.” His forehead crinkles and becomes beaded with sweat, stretching an envelope toward me with his shaky hand.
“But why? You don’t know me.”
He pauses, and when his ears start to glow beat red, I realize he read the news about me.
“I know what it is like to be broken,” he whispers, rising every hair to stand on the ends as he places the envelope on the table. “I’ll leave this with you.” He scrambles away as my guards react to my uneasiness.
After inspecting my unrequited gift, they both return to their gargoyle positions. Curious, I pull out the stack of papers and on top of it, is a picture of me before the accident and after. I gape at it, as my heart races in my chest, trying to make sense. The artist split the image in two as if I was an art of glass, one side shattering and the other one melting into new me. It’s so detailed, I get lost in the symbolism of my most traumatic life experience depicted on a piece of paper.
“Perfect, he left.” A familiar voice snaps me out of my thoughts, and I push the drawing back into the envelope.
“You’re late,” I clip as she slides into the chair opposite me and our bodyguards enclose us as if creating a wall of black suits to give us some privacy.
“We don’t have a lot of time.” She rips off the sunglasses on her face, and I gasp. The dark circles under her red eyes and lack of makeup make her almost unrecognizable. “We need to talk, Cassandra.”
“Haven’t we already done that, Helen?” I scoff, knowing if I show any weakness, she will use it against me.
“It’s not about my son or me.”
My eyebrows crease.
“It’s about you.” She pauses, looking around, and my heart stops in my chest, reacting to the urgency in her tone.
“Helen, what game are you playing?” My skin crawls as she locks her penetrating gaze on me. Fear like a snake slithers inside my chest, coiling around my beating organ and slowly squeezing it.
Her next words stop my heartbeat. “It depends, what are you willing to sacrifice for the safety of your children and the man you love?” She pushes a jewelry box toward me.
I open my mouth but stop when seeing hidden fear in her eyes. “Everything. Anything.” I finally tell her.
After Helen leaves, I sit there still reeling from what she said. This unusual conversation doesn’t make sense to me or her gift. I play with my shiny new bracelet, mulling over her words and thinking perhaps I made a mistake trusting her. It could be her way of monitoring my every move. Except after Lester’s threat, I don’t dismiss it, afraid he might try to hurt the people I love and me. Otherwise why did he call me instead of Mark?
“I need to use the ladies’ room,” I tell my bodyguard Ryan.
He escorts me to the door and checks the stalls.
“Wait for me at the car.”
I see him hesitate, but the café is almost empty.
“I’ll be fine,” I add, and he nods.
At the bathroom, I slip on the bracelet, still pondering if I should trust people who hate me. Is this another play to gain more control over me? I have no idea.
After I’m done, instead of leaving through the door, I use an emergency exit. Walking down the street, I pull out my phone to call Mark, needing to hear his voice to dispel the fear seeded by my mother-in-law from my mind. But before he answers, somebody bulldozes through me so hard I lose my footing and start falling. Before I kiss the concrete ground with my face, strong hands grab my arms and pull me back to my feet.
“Are you all right?”
Stunned, I watch the bandit in black hoodie and jeans run away.
“Miss?”
I raise my head to look at my savior towering over me.
