by Amie Nichols
“Let’s go downstairs and we will explain everything,” he tells me and we walk down the stairs. That dream is still in my head and I think about Samantha. With everything else going on I have put her in the back of my mind.
In the kitchen are Jacob, Lucy, Emma, Sam and Jimmy. They are scattered around the table and looking at a bunch of notebooks. They are old and tattered. Some look like they’ve been wet and dried again. “What are those?” I ask Luke.
“We found these in the woods. They’re his notes and pictures of you,” he explains slowly. “We found an encampment in a tree by accident. It was camouflaged quite well,” he continues and I can tell all eyes are on me as he tells me the news. “He was there a lot, and for awhile.” I walk over to the table, pick up one of the notebooks, and read one of the pages:
>>>> “She is so beautiful in the sun. I think she knows I’m watching her. She is telling me she knows because she sits where I can see her. >>>>>>>
Pages and pages of what I’m doing and how I look. I see a stack of photos and pick those up to flip through them. They are taken from a distance, but there are hundreds of them. All with me standing or sitting in various places, on various days because my clothes are different. There are a few with Emma in them, and I can tell that they have been from the last few months. There’s one where I am talking to Luke and he has scratched out Luke’s head with something sharp.
I look up from the pictures and every eye is on me. I’m dumbfounded and don’t know what to say.
“Did you recognize him?” Jacob finally speaks. “By what we can tell from the notes, he worked for your parents for a short time before Jane fired him,” he reveals what they have learned.
“We’ve had workers in and out of here for years. Jane fired a lot of men for being incompetent,” I say trying to wrap my head around it. “I didn’t recognize him at all.” I remember his eyes were so mad. “Can you tell how long he’s been watching me?” I ask.
“We don’t have an exact time frame, but from what we can tell, it was about 4 or 5 months before the car crash,” Jacob answers. “Lucy went through some old payroll to see if she could narrow down who was fired around that time, but most of the records of past employees are gone,” he continues. “Can you remember any details about him, height, hair color, that sort of thing?” He asks me to describe him.
“Dark skin, tanned, and scruffy facial hair, light brown hair and dark mad eyes.” I shiver. Luke puts his arm around my waist and pulls me to him.
“What about height, can you tell me about how tall he was?” Jacob interrogates for more information.
“Maybe six feet or a little shorter, but I don’t know he was far from me,” I say frustrated that I can’t explain him better.
“It’s okay baby,” Luke says kissing the top of my head. “We know more about him than we did yesterday, so that is only going to help us,” he comforts me.
“Hey girl, let’s let these guys figure it out. You and I need to have a chat,” Emma says and tries to lead me out of the room. I know she is just trying to get my mind off the stalker. I stop and reach up to give Luke a kiss. He takes my face in his hands and leans into my kiss. It’s sweet and slow and so loving. “I Love you,” he whispers to me. “Now go have some girl talk.” He swats my behind as I turn around to join Emma. Emma motions for Lucy to join us and we go into the study.
“Well I have some news, and I wanted to tell you so you can’t accuse me of keeping things from you,” she says and I am not sure if I want to hear her news right now. “I talked to Daddy, and he says that he knows more than he ever let on. That he will fill us in on everything when he gets back,” she says, “but he also said that you probably will not want to know what he is going to tell you and that you really need to think about if you want to open that door or not.”
“Well of course I want to know, why wouldn’t I?” I’m baffled that they think I wouldn’t want to know what happened to my mother.
“Daddy had a good point, except for the stalker of course, things are going good. You have Luke and friends that love you. Nothing from your past can change the future,” she says warily and I almost think that she doesn’t want me to know. Must have been the way her dad warned her that she seems scared to have the secrets revealed.
“When does he get back?”
“Not for a week, so you have time to think about it. I just wanted to let you know what I know,” she says taking my hand and giving it a squeeze.
“I’ve been reading those books we got from Cypress Grove. They are pretty messed up,” I explain to them. If the truth has anything to do with the dark magic in those books, maybe I don’t want to know the truth.
“I don’t want you messing with any crossroad devil spells, you hear me?” Emma scolds pointing her finger at me.
I grab her finger and bite it, which makes her laugh and I join in. Lucy has no idea what’s going on, but our laughter is infectious and she can’t help but join in.
“Now that’s the sweetest sound I could hear.” We look up to see Luke leaning against the doorframe. His arms are crossed and he has a big smile on his face. He looks so sexy standing there beaming down at me. The love he has for me is so apparent in those dark brown eyes.
“I hate to break up this party, but it’s after midnight and I think we should get some sleep,” he says to me.
“Get some sleep? I just woke up from a twelve hour coma. What did you give me, anyways?” I turn to Emma.
“It was one of Jane’s sleeping pills I found in the bathroom.” She sounds guilty when she confesses it to me. No wonder she would be out for days at a time. “I gave you a fourth of the dose that is listed on the bottle.” She chuckles nervously, wondering if I’m going to be mad. I don’t have the energy to be mad at her right now, so I just shrug at her confession, and I can see the relief on her face.
“Well you can come upstairs with me while I get some sleep. You can watch TV or read a book. I’m exhausted,” he says giving me a sheepish grin. “And you are not leaving my side.” He orders.
“Fine, fine” I give in and lift my hand up to have him help me off the floor where we are sitting. “Let me go say goodnight to Jacob.” I smile up at Luke and he just nods sleepily.
Jacob is still pouring over the notebooks when I walk into the kitchen and doesn’t notice me at first.
“Hey you! Thank you!” I say when he looks up and he gives me a giant grin, but I can see the worry in his eyes.
“You going to bed?” He says standing up and coming around the table to give me a hug.
“Yeah, apparently the twelve hours I just got wasn’t enough,” I joke and it makes him chuckle. He puts his arm around my shoulders to bring me in for a hug when we hear the loud crash of glass breaking behind us. Jacob instantly ducks my head with his hand and shields me from the glass shards that are flying by us.
“Fucking bastard,” I hear Jacob scream and Luke is in the kitchen, eyes wide, before I have any idea what happened.
Jacob pushes me toward Luke. Luke grabs my arm and is rushing me toward the study before I can even make a sound. He places me on the couch and in a very stern voice orders, “Stay here.” He turns to Lucy and Emma who are still sitting on the floor chatting. “Lock this door and don’t open it until one of us tells you,” he demands us, Emma and Lucy are looking up at him in shock.
“Lucy, I need you to check the video for the last half hour!” Jacob yells from the hall before Luke shuts the door. He says one more time with such seriousness to lock the door that Emma gets up instantly and does it.
Lucy’s fingers are already flying on the keyboard, and she’s staring at the monitor in total concentration.
“Something was thrown through the window.” Is all I say to their unasked question.
We hear Jacob shouting orders. “Jimmy, Luke, check every room. Sam get the dogs and come with me.”
“Damn it!” Lucy shouts after about 5 minutes of watching the feeds. She picks up her cell and within secon
ds she is talking to who I assume is Jacob.
“He’s placed four monitors on a loop,” she tells the cell phone. “Yeah it was a kink in the system and he found it,” Lucy says and I can hear the shame in her voice. “I’m fixing it right now. I’m sorry I didn’t see it,” she apologizes to the phone. “I know, I know, but I’m still sorry,” she says and I have the feeling that Jacob is consoling her, saying that it’s not her fault. “OK,” and she hangs up the cell.
“He’s says to remain in here,” she repeats his order to us. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how I missed that.” She turns to us apologetically and I can tell she is very upset that he outsmarted her again and that she let us down.
“It’s okay, he didn’t hurt anyone, and hopefully he’s gone,” I tell her to make her feel better. “Hell, I think we have all made our fair share of mistakes,” I admit.
We sit in the room not saying much. Lucy tells us she is putting some extra security in places she should have before, but was paying too much attention to trying to find him. “I knew he was trying to distract us,” she mumbles. “I should have done this in the first place.” She is still upset with herself.
After about an hour of pacing the small room, I can’t take it anymore. We haven’t heard a sound and I am starting to worry. What if he has hurt the boys? I would rather myself die than have something happen to Luke or Jacob, even Jimmy. I look at Emma who is mindlessly flipping through a magazine. “No, Lilly, we’re staying here.” She reads my mind and I plop on the couch next to her. I chew on my thumbnail nervously to keep myself from bursting into tears. I feel so helpless in here not having a clue what is happening.
We hear a knock on the door and I hear Luke’s voice saying the coast is clear. I rush to the door unlocking it and jump in his arms. He holds me tight against his strong chest. I don’t want to leave his arms again ever. I was scared, so scared, and just being in his arms takes all the fear away.
“Did you find him?” My words shudder out of me.
“No!” Luke says as he slowly sets me down. “He threw a brick at the window.”
Jacob comes up behind us and gives me a reassuring squeeze on my arm before he makes his way to Lucy. They start talking back and forth about breach and she keeps apologizing over and over again, even though Jacob is trying to calm her down. “It’s not your fault, I missed it too,” I hear him trying to comfort her.
“Where’s Jimmy?” Emma asks as she tries to get past Luke in the doorway.
“He’s boarding up the window.” She disappears into the kitchen.
“There was another note,” Luke whispers and I plant my cheek on his hard chest holding him tight as he slowly rubs my back.
“What did the note say,” I breathe.
We go into the kitchen after Jacob assures me that it is safe and on the table is the brick. It is in a plastic evidence bag, although I am sure there are probably no prints on it.
The envelope is in another bag and has the words Emma scribbled across the front. It was for her not me. I see Emma’s face turn white as she picks up the letter that is in a different plastic bag. She drops it on the table. Jimmy catches her before she falls to the floor and helps her to a chair.
You’ve turned her into a dirty whore just like you. You will pay for this, and so will she!
I read the note that is now laying face up on the table where Emma had dropped it. My mouth goes dry and I try to tell Emma I’m sorry with my eyes, but she is only looking at Jimmy who is trying to comfort her and calm her down.
His words so angry just like his dark eyes. What was once love for me has turned to hatred of me?
“This is typical stalker behavior,” Jacob explains and I can tell he is trying to make us all feel better.
“He sees you with Luke, even now that you know about him, and have gone to all of this to keep him away. He is angry,” he tells us. Luke’s behind me with his hands on my shoulders. “He’s blaming Emma for it, and thinks she’s the reason you are with Luke,” he continues.
“So instead of wanting me, he wants to hurt me?” I quiz wondering which one is worse.
“Yes and no. In my experience he still wants you. He probably believes if he can get rid of Emma that you would want him again. Or if he can get you away from Emma and Luke, you would be free of their spell, as it were,” Jacob says not making any of us feel better. “In reading his journals, he truly believed that you knew he was watching you. At first it was because of Jane that you wouldn’t acknowledge his presence and then he felt it was a game you guys were playing after the deaths,” Jacob clarifies for us.
“So he wants me out of the way,” Emma says her voice trembling, “What a psycho bastard!”
“This is just another one of his mind games,” Jacob says to us. “Like I said, right now this is a game to him. He is probably getting off on your fear of him,” Jacob consoles.
“Lucy, do you have a lock on the monitors now?” He asks her sweetly.
“Yes, and if someone tries to mess with the feed, there’s a back door that will warn me on my phone,” she assures him and I can tell she’s still feeling guilty.
“OK. All we can do now is try to get some sleep,” Jacob says to us. “Lucy, you are staying, obviously. Emma, you and Jimmy need to stay here tonight.” They nod in agreement. “Sam is in the cottage with the dogs and the house is locked up tight.”
“So what are we going to do?” I ask Luke once we are in the room and the door is shut. He looks at me puzzled by my question. “He’s not giving up and he is getting more aggressive. How long is this going to go on?” I ask him frustrated. I know there is nothing he can do right now.
“Well, right now I am going to lay with you in bed and hold you tight. We will figure something out in the morning,” he says and his words comfort me. I want to lie in his arms and forget about everything. It’s not long before I’m fast asleep in his safe warm embrace.
Chapter 42
I wake up the next morning still wrapped in Luke’s arms. “Good morning,” he whispers to me when he feels me stir. I look up at him and I can tell he’s been awake a little while.
“Good morning,” I say back to him and sit up to see is face better. “How long have you been awake?” I ask resting my head on his chest. I can hear his heart beating.
“About 15 minutes. Didn’t want to wake you, you were so peaceful.” He smiles down at me.
“I love lying in your arms, but Elliot’s partner is stopping by this morning to discuss the Adeline situation,” I explain as I wiggle out of his arms. “I got an email yesterday from him. Adeline is still threatening to sue me for the 3.5 million dollars,” I say annoyed and walk in the bathroom to shower. “Although the distraction is nice, she’s crazy. At least it will keep my mind off other stuff.
“She’s a loon. There’s no way she could win that lawsuit.” Luke yells to me from the bedroom. “Who does she think she is anyway?” He says now in the bathroom with me. “Me like,” he smiles as I take off my t-shirt and get in the shower.
“She thinks she is entitled to ‘Jane’s money,’” I say giving him a wink before I disappear behind the shower door. “But I don’t know why she thinks that. I think that me having all the money is driving her crazy and she is trying everything to get it,” I shout over the water. “Which I must admit, gives me a whole lot of pleasure,” I say smiling and feeling a little evil.
“Well this gives me a whole lot of pleasure,” Luke says. I turn around and he’s with me in the shower.
“Me too,” I say as I wrap my arms around his neck and bring him to me.
After half an hour in the shower of amazing sex, we both get dressed and head downstairs. The kitchen is bustling with people. Emma and Jimmy are sitting next to each other at the island holding hands and eating toast.
Jacob and Lucy are sitting at the table. She has her laptop out and he listens attentively to what she is saying as she points to something on the screen. “I put a lock on this. There is no way he can hack t
he feeds again,” she explains to Jacob and he nods to her in agreement.
Jeffrey is coming in from outside through the French doors. I can see he’s been working hard already this morning, dirt on his jeans and hands, as he goes to the sink to wash up.
Miss Finnegan is still at her mom’s, so there are no huge plates of food waiting for us. I grab some coffee for Luke and me and sit next to Emma. Jacob runs out the door to catch Sam, and Jimmy and Luke start talking about the master and they decide to destroy the bathroom today. Might as well keep busy is what they are thinking.
“Did you sleep well?” Emma asks me. I can tell by the dark circles under her eyes that she had not gotten much sleep at all.
“I’ve slept 24 of the past 36 hours, so I guess you can say that I am well rested,” I tease, but I know she is worried about the letter last night. “How are you?”
“Tired, but Jimmy kept my mind off some things and on other things,” she whispers shyly. It is not like Emma to be so coy.
“Daddy said that Andy is coming this morning to discuss the Adeline bullshit,” Emma says quickly changing the subject.
Luke grabs me in his arms, spins me around, and dips me down placing a firm kiss on my lips before he brings me back up right. “We are going to go destroy some stuff,” he smiles wickedly. “Please, please stay in the house.” He raises his eyebrows and waits for an answer.
“I will, I promise.” I make a cross over my heart with my index finger. “I will be down here with Andy and Emma most of the morning.”
“OK. I am only upstairs if you need me.” He kisses my temple before Jimmy and he are out the door.
Jacob and Lucy excuse themselves to the study to continue the project they’ve been engrossed in all through breakfast.
Andy arrives, and Emma and I sit at the table with him to go over the lawsuit.
“So, we were contacted by Adeline’s attorney yesterday saying that if we settle on 2.5 million then they would not take us to court,” Andy starts out and I can’t help but laugh. “Yes, it is amusing,” Andy says at my laughter. “Not only do they not have anything written down that Jane owed any money to Adeline, but they also have nothing to prove that Jane had asked for her services,” Andy explains.
