Sweet Temptation

She trembled again, and it was all he could do not to pull her back into his arms. But he needed answers if he was going to keep her safe.

She looked up at him, fear and trepidation in her eyes.

“I thought I’d escaped. I was so careful. I laid a false trail. I ditched my car and bought another one under a false name. I told no one where I was going. I was careful not to leave a paper trail of any kind. I didn’t use credit cards, and I always worked for cash so I wouldn’t have to give my social security number.

“I don’t know how he found me,” she said helplessly.

They all stared at her in astonishment. Micah opened and quickly closed his mouth, because what he had to say wasn’t pretty. Gray shook his head, and Connor’s brow was wrinkled up in confusion. Only Nathan found his tongue.

“Are you trying to say that the bastard who drugged you has been stalking you before you came here?”

“I’m lost,” Connor muttered.

“You aren’t the only one,” Micah said. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Angelina’s pale features. “Back up and start from the very beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”

She swallowed and tried to move off his lap, but he caught her waist and pulled her firmly against him. Cupping her chin, he tilted her face up until she met his gaze.

“I’m not leaving you again, Angel girl. Now tell me everything.”

So much was reflected in her eyes. Fear mixed with relief. Hope and disbelief. He realized the thing he was most looking for was trust. She’d looked at him before with such faith. He wanted that again, wanted to go back to the time when she trusted him and David to make everything right in her world.

“He started sending me notes—things—a year ago,” she said in a quivery voice.

Stunned exclamations met her statement on all sides. All the breath left Micah in a painful wheeze. He forced himself to remain silent as he waited for her to continue.

“At first it was harmless stuff. Kind of cute actually. I thought he was just a secret admirer. Someone too shy to confront me. He sent a few notes. Flowers. Chocolate and roses on Valentine’s Day.”

“Jesus!” Micah exclaimed. “Tell me you didn’t eat chocolate from some stranger.”

She looked affronted. “Of course not. I’m not stupid. It all seemed so harmless. Annoying after a while, but harmless.”

She drew in a breath. “And then it changed. It was like I did something to make him angry. The tone of the notes changed. At first they weren’t outright threats, but they gave me the creeps. It escalated from there. I found my tires slashed. He’d leave messages for me no matter where I went. And then he made outright threats.”

“Why the hell didn’t you go to the police?” Micah demanded. “For God’s sake, you’re David’s sister.”

She looked at him with hurt in her eyes. “I did go.”

“And?”

Her lips tightened. “As I told you, they weren’t exactly lining up to do anything for the sister of a man they thought had betrayed you. You didn’t stick around for me, so why should they? The only one who took me seriously was Chad Devereaux.”

A mixture of anger and sorrow hit Micah in the chest. Anger at himself and his department. Sorrow that she’d suffered because of his desertion.

“Chad did what he could, but we didn’t have much to work with. He checked in on me for a while. Did regular patrols by my house. The notes and the ‘gifts’ stopped. I hoped he’d gotten tired of playing his game, but in reality he was waiting and growing angrier and more desperate. He broke into my house and destroyed everything.”

She shivered, and Micah tightened his hold on her.

“It was awful. There was such rage behind his actions. I knew that if I’d been there when he broke in, he would have killed me. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I packed light, liquidated my assets and left town, laying a false trail north.

“I went all the way to Chicago because I wanted it to look like I’d relocated there. I started a bank account, established a residence, and then I bought a car under an assumed name and drove here. Until the time I went to the ER, I didn’t use my real name except with you all. But he’d already found me. Somehow he tracked me here,” she whispered. “The first day I went to work in the café, when I got off that afternoon, I was missing some photos from my car. I honestly thought I had moved them or packed them somewhere, but now I’m not so sure. It could have been him.”

Micah could remain silent no longer. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me all this sooner?”

A shuttered look fell over her face. “Would you have been any happier to see me? I thought I’d dealt with the problem. I thought I’d left it behind. I didn’t come here because I wanted you to solve my problems, and I think if you stop running long enough you’ll know why I came.”

Gray softly cleared his throat, and color worked into Angelina’s cheeks as she turned in his direction. It was as if she’d forgotten all about the others. And hell, so had he.

“Angelina, you just said you’d always planned to come here. Did you tell anyone that?” Gray asked. “Think hard about this.”