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She digs in her purse. “I wouldn’t answer it, but with Ophelia not being here, I have to check.” Her audible gasp raises my protective instincts. Adrenaline has me ready to throw her over my shoulder and race back to my apartment. “What is it?”
Color leaks from her tan skin, leaving her pale. She stares at her phone before seeming to conclude with a shake of her head. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
“Start now.” Imagining the worst provokes my insistent tone.
“I didn’t paint the entire picture of why I came to Arrow Creek. I wanted you to know your daughter in case something happened to me, and I think because of my panic attack you only took that to mean medically.”
The urge to touch her nearly does me in. “And?”
She exposes her phone screen. “Someone’s been harassing me.”
“Since when?” I nearly snarl when I see the text on the screen.
Unknown: You haven’t left me, have you, Caiti? How long will you keep me waiting?
“It’s been about five months.”Caiti’s hand trembles when she pulls back the phone and swipes the screen. “There are screenshots of every single message.”
“Tell me everything.” White-hot fury reverberates through my body, coiling my muscles for a physical fight that doesn’t yet exist.
“His name is Trevor Wright. He works for a client my company did business with and found my information through a project I worked on. Honestly, I’m not sure how. He sends me messages nearly every day, usually of the good morning, beautiful variety, but sometimes, they’re more detailed than that.”
The more I swipe, the angrier I become. “Has he ever approached you?”
She shakes her head. “No, he’s careful not to actually break any laws. As far as I know, he’s never made contact, but if you look at the message from the other day, he mentioned my house being dark. He knows I’m not home. I went to the police, but they said they can’t help unless he makes physical contact.”
A different number is attached to each message. He must be using a program to clone phone numbers to cover his tracks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s working with an alias.
“I know I should have told you. I don’t think he’ll hurt me, but just in case he did, I didn’t want Ophelia to be alone.”
I know the look on my face is downright scary when she retreats a step. “You’re not going back there.”
“I live there,” she fires back.
“Not until he’s dealt with.”
“You can’t—”
“What was the point?” I move a step back into her space. Not to scare her but to make her see reason. Because for the first time since I was a little boy, I feel fucking fear, and it’s not an emotion I’m familiar with. “Why come here if you were just going to run back? Do you think I’ll be okay to get a call in a year that I can come pick up my daughter because he killed you?”
Her breath catches. “No. I mean, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“What’s your plan then?”
“I don’t have one!” she explodes. “I didn’t plan any of this, and if you can back off and let me breathe, I can come up with one.”
“I can’t.” My voice cracks, the raw sound unfamiliar to me. “I can keep you safe here, but I can’t protect you from a thousand miles away, and I can’t leave Arrow Creek.” Sorrow drips from my tone. “My mother’s in a nursing home, Caiti. I can’t ever leave.”
“Oh, Dane,” she breathes and threads her hand through my hair, dragging my forehead to hers.
“My dad’s in prison for murder,” I abruptly share. Her startled gasp coaxes the truth from me. “I was eleven. Nobody knows why he did it, but he drugged a woman at a bar and killed her. Everything I do is because I don’t want to be anything like him.”
She clasps the other side of my head, holding me steady. “You are nothing like him.”
“My bar is a safe place. My staff is trained to watch for creeps trying to take advantage of unsuspecting women. You have to understand that there’s no chance I can let you return across the country with someone stalking you like this.” I shake the phone in my hand. “Even if he doesn’t escalate beyond harassing messages.”
“What are you saying?” Her eyes flit between mine.
I grip her hand against my cheek. “It means I’m willing to do anything, even if it makes you hate me, in order to keep you both safe.”
She forces herself back a step as understanding dawns. “You can’t take her away from me.”
