Rules of Engagement

by Lily White

  Lowering his voice to a whisper, his expression was strained when he explained, “Listen, I know you and I have had our issues, but I need a favor from you that’s not going to be easy.”

  I wasn’t this man’s biggest fan at the moment, but I was willing to listen. What could be so awful that he had to talk to me away from Donovan?

  “I’m about to call the police and get them involved right now, but I need you to make sure you’re next to Donovan when they arrive.”

  Panic shot through me at the seriousness in his voice. “Okay. But why?”

  “Donovan is talking again because of you, which means you have been the only person to get through to him since Jennifer died.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question, Jackson. Why do you need me next to him when the police arrive?”

  Breathing out, Jackson’s face twisted in anger and pain. “Because once the police arrive, Donovan’s going to find out that not only has Trevor been following you, he’s been doing it to a lot of women.”

  His answer confused me even more. “How do you know that and why does it matter?”

  Jackson scrubbed the back of his neck with his palm, rage washing over his expression. “I just found out Trevor has been tapped into the system longer than Donovan or I realized. After following some breadcrumbs of odd code, I used a back door Trevor had opened onto Donovan’s system. Following it back, I was able to access Trevor’s servers.”

  Okay. None of it made any sense to me, so I waited patiently for him to get to the point. Raising my eyebrows to silently point out I was waiting, I almost toppled over when he finally spit it out.

  “I’m not sure what I found yet, but Trevor has a bunch of files named for the women he’s been following. Not only does he have a file on you, but he has one on Jennifer.”

  Not wanting to jump to conclusions, I shivered when a ghostly finger of apprehension slid down my spine. “What does that mean?”

  “I think Trevor was following Jennifer, Mia. And it makes me wonder if he had anything to do with Jennifer’s death.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Rule No. 10: Everything I have, I never wanted. Everything I wanted is taken away. I’m afraid that, one day, you’ll fit in both categories.

  The police arrived within ten minutes of Jackson making the call. Three uniformed officers walked into the lobby, Donovan’s head snapping up when Jackson let them in to the back room and they turned the corner to enter Donovan’s office. Remembering the favor Jackson had asked of me, I hurried over to where Donovan was sitting and I took the seat beside him.

  Brows pulling together, he looked between Jackson and the police before asking, “What is all of this? What’s going on?”

  Taking a deep breath, Jackson admitted, “I found some files I think will link Trevor to Dark Realities and Mia. But I found something else, Donovan. And before we explore it any further, I thought it might be a good idea if we have the police here with us to look it over.”

  Reaching out to touch, Donovan’s arm, I felt the tension that drove through his body. He didn’t say a word, didn’t make a move. He simply sat and waited to here what Jackson had found.

  “Trevor isn’t just following Mia. He has at least twenty files on different women.”

  Donovan blinked. Jackson sighed. “Including one on Jennifer.”

  The muscle in Donovan’s arm tensed more, and when I looked down at his hands, I noticed his knuckles had turned white from how hard he clutched the armrests of his chair. His breath quickened, becoming more shallow, as his face turned a sickly shade of white. But before he could say anything, one of the officers stepped forward, an older man with silver at his temples, his lips pulled into a grim line.

  “Mr. Stone, my name is Officer Chase McDaniels. I was asked to come here to obtain any information you may have on an unsolved murder and a complaint filed by Ms. Jennings regarding a stalker. I understand that this situation is sensitive for you, so you may want to step out of the office while we examine the files to see exactly what your friend has found.”

  I hoped Donovan would agree to step away, but I knew by the expression on his face that it wasn’t going to happen. Cutting his chin to the left, he declined the officers suggestion before clearing his throat. “If there is something Trevor has on Jennifer, I want to see it.”

  Jackson’s shoulders withered to know that whatever was found would be found with Donovan watching, but rather than arguing, he stepped up to the desk where the computers were arranged and glanced down at me. “Would you mind if I steal your seat, Mia?”

  Shaking my head, I stood from the chair and moved to stand behind Donovan. I kept my hands on his shoulders the entire time Jackson found and accessed the files on Trevor’s servers. After saving all of them to a separate drive where they couldn’t be erased or destroyed once Trevor learned they’d been accessed, Jackson opened mine first, a gasp tearing from my lips as video after video of me popped up. Not only had Trevor been watching me on the streets, he had videos from inside my apartment.

  Tears slipped from my eyes as Jackson made note of what he’d found, but decided against watching the videos in order to avoid invading my privacy. I know the videos would go to the police and I was afraid of what they revealed. I knew he had to have caught me getting in and out of the shower and getting dressed. Thankful that Jackson decided to simply copy the files to a external drive and set them aside, I waited with bated breath as he opened Jennifer’s file.

  There weren’t many files, and the videos were limited to shots from the street, but it was obvious he’d followed her, obvious that he’d had an obsession with Donovan’s fiancé before she’d died. Jackson went through all the information with a fine toothed comb while Donovan watched in silence, but I knew the instant one of those videos rang home with Donovan because his shoulders tensed beneath my hands.

  “That’s the night she died,” Donovan said, his voice cracking even more with the anger and grief he felt. He was following us the night Jennifer died.

  Pausing the video, Jackson took a deep breath. “Maybe we should let the police watch this while we all step away. If this shows-“

  “No,” Donovan argued. “If that son of a bitch had something to do with her death, I want to see it.”

  I felt like I was intruding on Donovan’s privacy by standing in attendance, but when he reached up to take my hands with his, I realized that he was holding on to me for support while a tragedy in his life played out before his eyes.

  The video was heartbreaking to watch, but I stood strong for Donovan with even more tears slipping down my cheeks.

  There was no sound thankfully, but just the picture was enough for me to understand what happened that night. It was enough to make an educated guess as to why Donovan blamed himself for Jennifer’s murder.

  Shot from an alleyway across the street, the video showed Donovan and Jennifer walking out of a restaurant and turning left down the street. Donovan stopped and pulled his arm away from Jennifer, his expression angry and distant as he answered his phone. It appeared to be late at night and I knew the area of town they were in wasn’t the best. But I also knew many people often went there anyway for the small restaurants that offered exotic cuisines. Rachel had invited me to try out several of the restaurants in that part of town, but I’d always been too afraid to go because of events like what I knew was about to happen.

  While Donovan was distracted by the phone call he’d taken, Jennifer walked ahead, her own face twisted with anger and impatience. Several times she turned back to him to ask him something. He shoved her away when she attempted to take the phone from him, the call more important to him in that moment than whatever she had to say. Even more angry now that he’d blown her off, Jennifer walked past another shadowed alleyway and was grabbed by a man who attempted to drag her away from the sidewalk. She screamed, which drew Donovan’s attention, but before he could reach her, a flash of light could be seen from the shadows and Jennifer’s body fell to the gro
und.

  Donovan’s hands tightened over mine, and I didn’t miss how badly his body was shaking.

  There was no point watching the rest play out, and I was thankful when Jackson stopped the video before Donovan had to relive the last moments of Jennifer’s life. Paused at a point where Donovan was falling to his knees beside her, his mouth open on a scream, his face twisted in panic, Jackson closed the video and began the process of copying it over to an external drive to give to the police.

  The entire room was silent as we processed what we’d just watched. No, Trevor hadn’t been responsible for Jennifer’s death, but he did have evidence pointing to the man that was. Only, rather than going to the police with that evidence in order to get justice for Jennifer’s death, he’d kept it to himself to avoid being caught for stalking.

  Clearing his throat, Officer McDaniels stepped up to take the external drives from Jackson. “I think we have enough here to arrest Trevor Branch. If we need anything else, we’ll be sure to contact you. We’ll be in touch once the charges are filed and we’ve apprehended Mr. Branch.

  There was nothing else to be said. Quietly thanking the officers, I watched as they walked off, my hands still firmly gripped by Donovan. The officers let themselves out, leaving Donovan, Jackson and me silently staying in place, none of us moving or saying a word.

  Jackson was the first to break that silence. “Listen, I’m sorry I gave that son of a bitch access to your system, but -“

  He fell silent again when Donovan held up a hand to stop him. “Just go home, Jackson. I need to process this before I make any decisions about what I want to do.”

  Jackson looked stricken to be brushed aside so easily, but I could understand why Donovan was mad. It wasn’t the right time for me to point out that if Jackson had never given Trevor access, it would have never led us back to Trevor’s servers where that video was kept. It felt weird wanting to jump to Jackson’s defense when he had been quick to attack me in the past, but I understood he was trying to protect his friend.

  Standing from his seat, Jackson gave me a pointed look before glancing down at Donovan. He was worried I’d leave Donovan alone, but the only way that would happen is if Donovan ran off without telling me.

  Somehow, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

  After Jackson left, I moved to take a seat next to Donovan, but he grabbed me before I could and pulled me to sit in his lap instead. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I let him hold me, hating how his body trembled next to mine, either from rage or pain, or a toxic mixture of both.

  I’m not sure how much time passed before he spoke. “I’m sorry you had to watch that.”

  With my cheek pressed against his hair, I answered, “I’m sorry you had to live through it. I can’t imagine how horrible that must have been.”

  More silence fell before his arms tightened around me. “You’re staying at my place tonight. And tomorrow, we’re going over to your apartment to find those cameras and rip them out.”

  I didn’t want to intrude, didn’t want him to feel obligated to let me go home with him. “I can stay at Rachel’s.”

  His arms tightened more. “No. I want you where I can see you and know you’re safe. And it-“ He sighed, his body tensing more before he finally said, “Just let me hold you when I fall asleep. I think that will help.”

  Donovan had made a breakthrough by finally talking again today. Who was I to deny him that small comfort? I knew we wouldn’t be getting hot and heavy while staying at his place, but I couldn’t deny I didn’t like the idea of falling asleep beside him. “Okay. I’ll stay with you.”

  Pushing to my feet, I took Donovan’s hand and led him from the office. After shutting off the lights, we walked hand in hand out into the halls, took the elevator down to the garage, and didn’t let each other go until he was opening my door for me and watching me with sad, bruised eyes as I buckled myself in.

  We didn’t say a word to each other as we drove to his place. It wasn’t unusual, and the silence was comforting while we both processed everything that had occurred. Thankfully, Donovan didn’t drive like a madman, and by the time we reached his place, I was yawning and ready for sleep. How long had it been since I’d slept an entire night without waking up fearful of nightmares from my past or the stalker who’d taunted me for the past month?

  So tired that I didn’t pay attention to our surroundings as we entered his building and took the elevator to the top floor, I followed him into his room and sat on the bed while he disappeared into the closet to strip off his suit and slip on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. Handing me some clothes to wear, he laughed when I walked out holding the pants to my hips to keep them from sliding off.

  “Too big?” he asked, his voice soft and exhausted.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I answered as I climbed into his bed to lie down. Patting the mattress, I smiled and invited him to lie beside me.

  We fell asleep in each other’s arms, and for the first time in as far back as I could remember, I slept the entire night through, feeling safe and warm.

  EPILOGUE

  It had been months since we’d discovered that Trevor had been the man running Dark Realities when I’d signed up. It took three days for the police to find him and arrest him, but with the evidence they had, he was quick to admit everything he’d done, not just to me, but other women both on and off the site.

  Although the man who killed Donovan’s fiancé couldn’t be identified based on the video evidence found, the police were hopeful that someday he would be apprehended. Still photos were taken from the video that showed his face and were uploaded into a large database of unsolved crimes. Without DNA, the chances were slim, but Donovan understood and attempted to find comfort in the fact that they had more to go on with the video than they’d ever had before.

  As for Jackson, Donovan was angry with his lifelong friend for several weeks. It was difficult being in the office while the two of them were doing everything they could to avoid each other in the small space. Eventually, I grew tired of it, and after dragging Jackson into Donovan’s office, I went to Jackson’s defense explaining that had it not been for the security breach, the police would have never found the video. They would have never known Dark Realities was still being operated without proper oversight, and they would have eventually lost the contract for the reality gaming sites with their clients. Women could have been hurt. I could have been hurt. And due to Jackson’s trust in Trevor, all of those possible results had been avoided.

  Donovan wasn’t immediately convinced, but eventually he understood that sometimes in life, the mistakes we make lead to unexpected blessings. Had it not been for the bet between Trevor and Jackson that led to my being hired, and had it not been for the bet between Jackson and Donovan that led to my staying at the firm, Donovan and I would have never fallen for each other. I would still be the frightened woman I’d once been. I would have lost my apartment, would have returned home to a father that would never love me, and there was no telling how much worse I would have become emotionally.

  On top of that, had I never come into Donovan’s life - and had I never fought back - Donovan would still be locked into his silence, he would have never forgiven himself for a tragedy that, in truth, wasn’t his fault.

  Jackson and Donovan eventually made up, their friendship reestablished. And as for Jackson and me, we understood and learned to appreciate the shared concern we had for Donovan, and it was that mutual concern that led us to becoming friends as well.

  It was during a late night conversation that Donovan confessed to me why he’d stopped talking after Jennifer died. As I’d seen on the video, they’d left a restaurant that night in a shady area of town, and rather than remaining by her side, Donovan had stopped to take a business call.

  His father had just passed a year earlier, leaving Donovan full of regret that some of their last conversations had been arguments over whether Donovan would take over Stone Industries to continue his father’s
legacy. Once his father died, however, that guilt and regret drove Donovan to make up for those arguments by dedicating himself to the firm, even to the detriment of everything he cared about in life. He was new to the job of running a multi-billion dollar firm when Jennifer’s death occurred.

  Under pressure, and out of his element, he’d tried to make his father proud by jumping in with two feet despite never wanting the company. It was his determination that placed business as top priority, and by ignoring Jennifer that night, by arguing with her and letting her walk ahead, he felt he’d let her be killed.

  Grief had led to Donovan hating the business, and it was that grief that led him to a decision to never speak again. To never argue. To never take another phone call that would lead to tragedy.

  His reasoning was extreme, but who was I to judge? I’d never lost someone to violence and I wasn’t in a position to believe that cutting yourself off from the world was short-sighted.

  We all cut ourselves off in one way or another, for short periods of time, or for extended periods. Each person is different, and whereas some are able to open their eyes to see light and learn to live again, others, like Donovan and me, become lost.

  But like two wanderers in the dark, we’d bumped into each other, we’d held hands and found the way out of our grief, our restrictions, our rules that made no sense to any person but us.

  Speaking of rules, Donovan made several more after we’d decided to move forward and explore our new relationship. Rule number one being that there would be no more secrets between us. Rule number two was simple enough: we would love each other without limits.

  Rule number three, however, was more difficult to swallow. It’s what filled my days with frustration and what led me to walk into the office at ten after eight dressed in a black and white, floral patterned dress and red, three inch heels. Unable to find parking that morning because I was late leaving my apartment, I’d walked into the lobby and snatched the tablet from the reception desk.