by Maya Moss
Obsession
(A Romantic Suspense Thriller)
Maya Moss
Romantic Mystery Thriller Suspense Publishing House
Obsession (A Romantic Suspense Thriller)
Copyright 2015 Maya Moss, Romantic Mystery Thriller Suspense Publishing House
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Thank You
Booklist
Prologue
The mid-afternoon sun beat down mercilessly on Allison Show’s eyes as she skied down the hill. A mile and no one in sign, she thought, and smiled at the silence and beauty around her. She stopped at the middle of the last hill of the track and dropped her ski mask on the snow, leaning against her ski pole, and enjoying the view of the mountain. Allison could feel the sweat dripping down her back, but it was worth it.
She loved skiing, but during the last few years, things had been busy and she had rarely indulged herself. Now, however, her business was going well, and she took two days to walk away from it all and spent some time amidst the nature, skiing, and trying to forget how lonely her life was. Allison had a happy nature, but some things in her past had forced her to keep away from other people.
She looked at her reflection in the clean tinted surface of the glasses and grimaced. Her hair was a mess, and her face red from the exercise and sweaty. Allison was sure she looked like everything else but the tanned, well-groomed models, all men seemed to like so much. After wiping her brow, she adjusted her mask and moved down the hill, aiming for the end of the track.
Hidden behind the small group of trees at the foot of the hill was a man, dressed in bright blue and looking as hot as she was feeling. The snow was amazing, but the day turned out to be too hot for the heavy gear they both were wearing. The man was holding a bottle of water, and probably debating if it would be a good idea to tip it over his head. She watched him decide against it, and opt to just drink a little more of the refreshing liquid.
Rick Hamilton stood beside the tree, a bottle of forgotten water in his hand, staring slack-jawed at the sexy woman descending the hill. He had been here often enough to hardly pay any attention to the other skiers, who usually came in groups and were of no interest to him. But, God, just the first glimpse of her had his blood rushing in his veins, now for a different reason.
She was coming his way, with the sun sparkling off the tips of her red hair, and highlighting the sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“Hi,” Rick spoke, before she could get away from him. “It seems we are the only ones to ski in the middle of the day in such sunny weather.”
“Yes, it takes a lot out of you to ski in these conditions.” She smiled at him.
“My name is Rick, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you. I am Allison.”
The man was athletic, tall, lean, well built, and ruggedly handsome. His brown hair and dark eyes created a kind of mysterious look about him. She could see in him the typical jock, and was surprised to see him smiling down at her. She was anything else but the cheerleader type of girl.
“Do you come here often?” Rick continued to ask questions, and started to walk alongside her.
“No, sadly no. I like skiing, but lately there have been too many things to take care of, so this is the first time I came here in years.” It was easy to speak to him, and she was slowly relaxing.
“I was on the ski team in high school, really wanted to go to the Olympics, but after an injury, it was all gone.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” Allison stopped walking and looked his way. “It must have been really hard for you to give up your dream.”
“Yes, it was, and now I am a lawyer. But, enough about me... tell me something about yourself?”
Allison was rarely nervous, but today felt a little overwhelming and she had never been a big fan of overwhelming. She was more of a study up, be prepared, no surprises kind of girl. But with new possibilities before her, the life she had secretly dreamed of for years seemed within her reach... well Allison knew she would be a fool if she walked away now that she was almost there.
She thought of what her mother might say to her in this moment, if she had been there.
“Stop over thinking every single thing, Allison, put one foot in front of the other.” Her mother’s calm no-nonsense voice sounded in her head. The words were there automatically as though her mother had become part of her subconscious, or maybe she always had been. Allison was not sure anymore. “Even if you do not get to where you thought you might be going, at least you can say that you never stood still.”
Allison came to a halt in front of the handsome man, looked down at her hands, and then up into his eyes. Beside tall, dark beauty, she could see the kindness and warmth in his eyes. It was like something out of the imagination of her seventeen year old self. She could feel the young girl in her clutching the romance book to her chest and gazing awestruck at the version of Prince Charming, standing right beside her.
She almost giggled at the silliness of her thoughts.
“All right,” she said firmly, “I will tell you about myself.”
*********************************
She watched them from the shadows behind the ski rental shop and felt the anger and jealousy rising inside her. Monica had no idea who the other woman was, but there was no way she was leaving Rick with her. She had worked very hard to reach the top, and Rick was an essential part of her plan for success.
Monica did not really love him. Actually, she could not recall ever loving someone in her life. Her father was a drunk and good for nothing man, who preferred to spend his days and nights at the local bar, rather than with his family. Her mother was a bitter, overly religious woman, always unhappy and unable to love.
Monica had grown up in a broken home, where everybody was caring only for themselves and nobody else. She studied hard to get out of there, and to become something more than her father and mother. The hard years of college, then the even harder first years of work, had taught her the lesson that nothing in life comes free.
And she wanted more, no, she wanted it all. The heart she wanted to shut down was aching for love, friendship, and human relations, but her cold mind was demanding success – and that was what she was going to achieve.
Her career was really progressing, and she was sure that in no time at all she would be one of the partners in her firm. Therefore, she had the beauty, the success; all she needed was to find the perfect man. And she had found him. Rick was all she wanted in a man and more. She was sure he was the One.
But, he left her. Monica let him go, hoping to find a way to bring him back. She started following him everywhere he would go, trying to learn more about him and his habits. Up until now, there has not been any other wo
man in his life, but here she was, looking at a possible threat.
The little redhead looked like nothing special, but Monica could see the way that Rick was looking at her. There was something new in his eyes, something she had never seen before. Could it be that this woman was someone special? Monica had no idea, but the thought scared her.
She needed to find out who she was? What else was she to do? How long had Rick been seeing her?
*********************************
Chapter 1
“My heart is full of emotions – on one end, I feel happiness, love, romance, passion, and so on. On the other end, however, I feel the jealousy, the danger, the obsession, and anger, which make me act out.” Monica’s Diary.
It was a beautiful Monday morning, but Allison still could not shake the feeling of doom that was hanging in the air. Her life had been a living hell the last few weeks, and she could tell that there was something even worse coming up.
The redheaded woman with small freckles spread all over her face, was short and pale in comparison to the world’s idea of beauty. Allison liked gardening, crafting, cooking, and even knitting. And, although she owned an online stationary business and printed wedding invitations, she was a very funny and industrious woman. Her looks, however, were deceiving, as she was also very tough.
Life had taught her well. The darkest moments in her life were her college years, when her seemingly harmless roommate, in her attempt to imitate Allison, started stalking her and turned Allison’s life into a living hell. It happened years ago, but lately Allison was reliving those horrible days.
Now, Allison was going out with a handsome and successful man, who she could see herself spending her life with. Rick was very different from her, her complete opposite in almost everything, but there were things about him, which made Allison’s heart speed and get warmer. They both liked skiing, and Rick has managed to resuscitate this old hobby of hers, slowly creating a strong connection in the process.
This morning, her home office was particularly busy, and Allison already debated if it would be better to simply give her assistant and the web developer the day off. She entered the office slowly, still deep in thoughts, to see Liz on the phone, engaged in what looked like a very distressing conversation.
“I don’t know what you want, but this needs to stop...” Liz was saying, while desperately looking at Tom for help. “No, this cannot continue, we will be calling the police if you call again...”
Allison stepped closer to her desk, and took the phone from her assistant. “Listen Monica, I am really tired of all this and I am seriously considering the option of calling the police. So, if you want to spare us both the trouble, leave me alone and stop calling my phone.”
Without waiting for an answer, Allison closed the phone and sank back into her chair, clearly suffering from anxiety and lack of sleep. It has been more than a week now since the calls and messages started, and the damage was starting to show.
Allison was nervous and afraid to go out alone. There was the constant feeling of someone watching her, playing on her nerves, and the fact that the woman was harassing even her employees wasn’t helping at all. Liz watched her with a sorrowful expression, and Allison tried to smile, encouraging her to do the same.
“She will get tired, you would see.” Allison said, giving hope to both Liz and Tom, and to herself.
But before the words could leave her mouth the phone started to ring again. The three people in the office looked at each other, and Tom went to disconnect it.
“We could take the day off, right?” he muttered, and Allison agreed with him.
“Allison, you have to do something. This cannot continue like that forever...” Liz started, after sitting behind her own desk.
“She is right, this woman has been harassing you for more than a week now,” Tom agreed with her.
“I know... you are both right... but... Monica is Rick’s ex-girlfriend. I don’t want to make too big a deal out of it.” Allison said with a tired and quiet voice.
“But she has been sending you hundreds of messages and calling you constantly at home, at work, everywhere,” Liz insisted.
“Yes, I know. Rick has already hired a lawyer to get a restraining order. I am sure that once she sees that we are serious, Monica will leave us alone.”
Allison said the words, all the while fearing that Monica was too unstable and the restraining order would not prevent her from coming after her, if she really wanted to. She knew only too well how persistent and hard-headed the stalkers could be, and Monica so far was acting like the worst of them.
She had seen Monica only once so far. She was beautiful, with long brown blown-out hair and golden skin. Monica was working as a PR consultant, and was the usual career ladder climber. Her goal in life was to be on top, and she was working hard to look perfect, achieve success in her job, and have the perfect man beside her. She believed that Rick was the One for her and that made her obsessive.
Allison had seen all this during the few short minutes she had spent with the woman, as it was transpiring in her behavior and words. Monica wanted it all, and was ready to do whatever it took to achieve her goal. According to Rick, she had done it before with her previous boyfriends, but with Rick, things were getting really out of hand.
Allison liked Rick, and he obviously liked her, but their relationship had just started, and she really hoped to see where that would take them. Actually, she was ready to fight for him. Therefore, if Monica wanted war, war she would have.
“What do you think I should do? Let go of Rick? Satisfy her desires?” Allison asked her friends and co-workers.
“Never,” Tom said quickly. “But, I think that it would be good if Rick speaks to her, explaining how things are now, and that he does not want her in his life.”
“He did that,” Allison signed sadly. “It did not work.”
*********************************
The night of the same day, Allison went to Rick’s house for dinner. They had agreed to meet there so that they could discuss Monica and the way her behavior was affecting the two of them.
Rick’s house was a beautiful mixture of old and new styles, designed to bring out the idea of home and family. Allison loved it, and was more than happy to spend the evening in it. Her artistic nature was challenged by the art and combinations of styles in it, and Rick was more than happy to let her explore and make comments.
The plan for the evening included having a quiet dinner, watching Battlestar, or simply being together. An evening like this one wasn’t something that Rick had ever enjoyed before, but Allison was slowly changing him. He had fallen for her, even though she was not his usual type.
Rick was an environmental lawyer, who was very passionate about the environment and its protection. His talent and passion were helping him rise fast in his firm, a fact that made him very attractive to Monica.
“Where are you right now?” Rick smiled at the beautiful woman, sitting at his table, but was obviously thinking about something else.
“Sorry,” Allison returned his smile. “I was thinking about Monica and her recent behavior. Have I told you about my college experience with stalking?” She could see him lose his smile and become uncomfortable, but it was no use to drop the subject now.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I was stalked by my roommate, who wanted to imitate me, be my only friend, and almost make me her property.” It was hard for Allison to relive those painful memories, but she knew that Rick needed to know all the facts, in order to understand her. “Annie was a very private girl, who had had a hard childhood and even harder school experiences. We quickly became friends, but I had no idea that I was the only friend she had ever had. When her behavior became too obsessive, I tried to put some distance between us, but that only made her try harder. That is when the stalking began. Annie started to follow me everywhere, to the point that I could not even go to the bathroom alone. She imitated my clothes, started to attend my cla
sses, even tried to insinuate herself into my family.”
With every word, Allison was becoming more and more agitated, reliving the horrible events from a few years ago. Rick was shocked to hear what she had to go through. He wanted to offer comfort and protection, but when he tried to take her hand, Allison shook her head and continued.
“I had to do something, so first I asked for help the guidance counselor at the college and then went to the police. They said Annie was suffering from some kind of disorder and needed special care. She was sent to a clinic, and I never heard from her again, but it was horrible what I had to go through. The constant watching, the fact that she wanted to be a part of everything in my life, the hiding, the lies... I don’t want to go through this again.”
“It is all my fault. I dragged you into this. I am very sorry Allison, but I really have no idea what to do. She is acting crazy, and that scares me.” Rick was desperate to make her understand that he needed her.
“I know,” Allison stood up and went around the table. “Let’s go and watch some TV, I had enough of Monica for tonight.”
They cleaned up after dinner, and walked into the living room together. Rick left the lights off, and pointed to the comfortable sofa in front of the TV.
“Allison?” he asked. The man had been worried about her since they had learned that it was Monica harassing them both. It did not matter that she wasn’t talking about it, Rick could easily gauge her fear, as it was palpable.
Allison sighed. She turned to look at him, “Rick, I am okay. I was just thinking.” She had been doing a lot of that in the last couple of weeks since she had learned about Monica and her relationship with Rick had become more serious. She was still afraid of her own feelings, but Allison was starting to come to terms with them. She knew that her behavior was concerning him, though.
Rick’s gaze dropped to her hands. She was holding them in front of her as a kind of protection against whatever was scaring her. He moved towards Allison then, and reached out his hands with a soft smile on his face, “Can I?” he asked softly.
