“I have my ways,” the voice said smoothly. “And there is nothing you can do to stop me, Mr. O’Reilly,” the voice sounded so confident. “I advise you to give up.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kaleb said evenly. “You’re clearly sick in the head.”
The voice sighed heavily, like Kaleb had only managed to disappoint him. “Did you know I could tell you minute for minute what your friends and aunt are doing right now, Katie? Would you like me to share?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Your aunt just got out of the hotel shower. She’s wearing a t-shirt with Donald Duck on it. Ashlee is painting her toe nails coral pink. Larson—”
“Stop!” Fear and anger rushed through her. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because Kaleb has something I want.”
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks and looked to Kaleb. “What’s he talking about, Kaleb?”
Kaleb looked on the verge of committing murder, but he met her gaze squarely.
“He’s lying.”
The voice laughed. “Have you not ruined her life enough? Tell her who you are, Kaleb.”
Kaleb turned his back on Katie as he held the phone to his mouth. “You are not going to get away with this.”
“I tried to negotiate with you,” he said smoothly. “You ignored my attempts, forcing me to make these drastic choices. Having Katie wind up at the gala was never a hand I would have played, but you forced me.”
“Bullshit!”
“Believe what you will, but I’m not the one playing with her life, Kaleb. You are.”
“What are you talking about?” Katie demanded, feeling suffocated in their endless arguing. “What has Kaleb done?”
“Go on, Kaleb. Tell her.”
“There is nothing to tell,” Kaleb said.
The voice sighed heavily. “We can argue this all night. The bottom line is this, give me what I want and no one will get hurt. Or don’t and I systematically kill one person for every day I have to wait.”
“I don’t have anything to give you,” Kaleb said with such ease that Katie was stunned.
“Not even if it means saving Katie’s life?” the voice sounded bewildered. “I could kill her right now.”
Kaleb looked into Katie’s wide, frightened eyes. There was a flicker of uncertainty before he blinked it away.
“It won’t do you any good. I don’t have what you’re asking.”
“Fine.” The voice paused. “But I did warn you.”
With a click, the line went dead and silence drowned the room.
“Kaleb…”
Katie was drawn into his arms, crushed into his chest as he pressed his face into her hair. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She wasn’t sure how he was going to keep that promise, but she was too afraid to ask.
Neither slept that night, nor did they speak. It was a mutual decision to lie in the dark, in perfect silence broken only by the occasional sigh or the rustle of sheets. Kaleb held her to him as though afraid she might disappear if he allowed his arms to loosen even slightly. Katie had no problems with that. Being entirely cocooned in his embrace was a comfort. But with dawn came yet an even bigger problem, one Kaleb voiced before Katie could fully wrap her head around it.
“He’s watching us.”
Katie looked at him from across the sofa. “I know.”
Kaleb raised his eyes off her face and let them wander over her sitting room. When he spoke, his voice was guarded and low. “Is there anything here that you don’t recognize?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, but I mean, my aunt brings crap up here all the time. It could be anything.”
“Grab your clothes,” he instructed. “You’ll stay at my place.”
“How do we know your apartment isn’t bugged as well?” she asked.
Darkened eyes met hers. “We don’t, but it makes sense now how he got those pictures,” he said in a low murmur directly into her ear. “He’s been one step ahead of us the entire time.”
“But how?” she said back. “How could he get in without me or my aunt noticing? Don’t cameras need installation with cords and electricity?”
“Not necessarily.” He tipped his head back a fraction. “If you have the money, you can buy cameras so small, you would need a microscope to see them.”
Katie growled in her throat. “I hate him. Whoever he is. He has no right to do this!”
His hands glided down her back. “No, but he has. Now we have to find a way to get rid of him.”
“Any ideas?”
He shook his head.
Katie studied him, traced his beautiful features carefully. “Kaleb, if there was something…”
“I would tell you,” he said at once. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
She had no reason not to believe him. After all, if she had a choice between believing a complete lunatic and the man she loved and trusted … there was no contest. She believed Kaleb.
“I wish I never made that wish,” she whispered. “This wouldn’t be happening if I had just…”
He drew her across the sofa and into his lap. “This isn’t your fault, Katie.”
“I’m having a hard time believing that.”
“Hey.” He slipped his hand beneath her chin and gently eased her face up to his. “It’s not your fault, okay?” He stroked her hair. “I need you to believe that. This has nothing to do with you. I’m the one he wants.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why you?”
He kissed her lightly. “Do you trust me?”
Katie nodded. “Yes, of course, but why—”
“Then I need you to trust that I won’t let anything happen to you. I will keep you safe.”
It was impossible to doubt him when he looked so fierce.
Katie nodded. “But that doesn’t explain why—”
“Please!” he urged. “Thank you,” he said when she closed her mouth. “What did you wish for?” he asked.
Katie bit her lip. “You.”
He stilled. She felt every bone in his body go rigid. “What?”
Embarrassed, she lifted her gaze to his. “I wished for you, Kaleb.”
“Why would you…?”
Katie dropped her gaze. “Because I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”
Kaleb’s warm fingers touched her cheek. “Katie…”
“I don’t regret our night together,” she whispered.
He kissed her long and hard. “Me neither.”
Kaleb took her downtown without giving her a single explanation as to where they were going. He made her wait inside the car as he disappeared into a warehouse building made entirely of sheet metal. He returned a moment later with a bag in hand.
“What’s that?” she asked once he was seated comfortably behind the wheel.
“It’s a frequency jammer,” he replied, tossing it into the backseat. “It disrupts live video feeds from a single area.”
Katie stared at him. “And you’re going to do what with that?”
He shoved the car into drive. “I’m going to scramble his feeds so he can’t watch the store.”
“That’s brilliant!” she exclaimed, supremely impressed. “What made you think of this?”
Kaleb grinned, but it was tight and angry. “Because the thought of him watching you sleep and undress makes me feel more than a little homicidal. This way, I have some piece of mind.”
Katie reached across the console and took his hand. She gave his fingers a light squeeze.
“Are you going to work?” she asked when he dropped her off in front of the house.
He nodded. “I don’t want to, but I need to finish this project.”
Katie nodded. “I know. It’s okay. My aunt will be home soon.”
He walked her upstairs to her room and installed the jammer, a slim, black device with four antennas.
“That should do it.” He stepped back. “I have it set up for video only so you
can still use your cellphone.” He glanced at the box. “It has a fifty foot radius so I think it’ll cover the entire store, but your bedroom is definitely safe.”
Katie smiled. “Thank you.”
He kissed her lightly. “Call me. I don’t care what it is. I’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
He touched her cheek. “You too.” Concern darkened his eyes. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
He didn’t seem satisfied, but he nodded reluctantly. After pressing a kiss to her brow, he left.
Alone, Katie turned to study the place she had always felt safe with a sense of foreboding. It just wasn’t the same, not with the knowledge that it had been tainted by the presence of something evil. She was no longer sure she could even bare to be there alone knowing there was a very good possibility that some asshole was watching her every move.
Hating the person in a way that she had always thought impossible to hate anything, Katie made her way upstairs and shut herself up in her room to pace. Kaleb had taken all the photos and her notes. Katie hadn’t argued when he’d suggested it. She’d been relieved to get it all out of her home. So far everything her stalker did, he did with great care and even more careful planning. He knew exactly where to step to keep from being detected. Of course, the money didn’t hurt. Having it clearly got you into places no normal person could possibly venture. And all because she had made a stupid wish.
Okay maybe it hadn’t been entirely stupid. And maybe she didn’t regret it. How could she when it had brought her Kaleb? But it didn’t stop her from wishing she’d stayed home that night.
She was still in her room when Aunt Hannah returned, luggage in tow. She heard the bells chime over the door and hurried downstairs to greet the other woman.
“How did it go?” Katie asked, pulling out of the tight embrace.
“Fabulous,” Aunt Hannah said. “I met a lot of really great people and actually learned a thing or two. Also,” she set her bags down and grinned. “I completely sold out of all that stuff you had made.”
Katie blinked. “You sold out? Aunt Hannah, you weren’t supposed to sell—”
“I don’t mean sell-sell,” Aunt Hannah interrupted, waving Katie away. “I had it all on the table and people were just snatching them right up.”
Feeling like that was the best news she’d heard in ages, Katie beamed. “That is awesome. I am so happy to hear that.”
Scooping her things up, her aunt started towards the back. “How was everything here?”
“Fine,” Katie lied as she followed along after her. “Very uneventful.”
“Did Ashlee leave?” her aunt asked, starting up the stairs.
“Uh, yeah, she actually left Saturday.”
Her aunt glanced back mid-step. “You were here alone?”
Tactfully avoiding her aunt’s gaze, Katie shrugged. “Not really. Kaleb stayed with me last night.”
“Oh.” Her aunt continued onward.
“Nothing happened,” she assured her as she hurried to catch up. “We watched movies mostly and then he left this morning to get back to work.”
Breathing hard from the climb, Aunt Hannah turned to face Katie. “You don’t have to explain yourself, Katie. You’re an adult. I don’t mind that he kept you company while I was away, just make sure it doesn’t become a habit, okay?”
Nodding, she left her aunt to trudge into her room to unpack. Katie moved into the sitting room and double checked to make sure nothing was out of place. She was fluffing the pillows on the sofa when her phone chirped. She tugged it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID.
Unavailable.
Frowning, she opened the text.
“Nice try, but you can’t get rid of me that easily, Katie.”
Chapter Twenty-One
It was a last minute decision, bundling up and catching the bus to the other side of town. She knew she shouldn’t, not without at least letting Kaleb know she was coming, but sitting around the shop was beginning to wreak havoc on her nerves; every move she made felt monitored. It had gotten to the point where she had begun to contemplate setting the entire place on fire, just to stop the cold eyes of technology from watching her. It was at that moment that Katie knew she had to leave.
Originally, her idea was to go to Ashlee’s, but that would involve chatting. Not to mention she would feel obligated to tell her best friend that there was a very good chance she had cameras in her room. She knew she should. It was wrong that she hadn’t already. But then she would have to explain how she knew and she knew Ashlee wouldn’t take the matter lightly. Knowing her friend, she would try and call the police, as she had every right to. But X had warned her against just that. He’d placed Katie in a tight bubble, restricting everything she did, trapping her so she had no way out. Telling her friends could only jeopardize them even further. Besides, Katie was hoping she could somehow fix everything before anything really bad happened.
So she found herself sitting on the bus, headed straight into a part of the city no sane person ventured willingly if they had any other choice. It was a different bus driver. This one didn’t try to talk her out of getting off. He shut the door behind her and rumbled off.
Katie huddled beneath her coat and traced her steps in the direction of Dorothea’s daycare.
The building had walls and windows and even a door. It was no longer a skeleton of a dream, but a reality of what was. The beautiful three story structure was still crawling with men hammering and sawing into it, but it was a sight to behold.
“You’re back.”
Katie looked away from the house to squint at the beautiful woman smiling at her from several feet away. She smiled back.
“Hi!”
Dorothea made her way over slowly. “Here to see Kaleb?”
Katie nodded. “Kind of. He’s not really expecting me. I guess I’m kind of surprising him.”
Dorothea’s smile broadened. “He will like that.”
Katie hoped so. The last thing she wanted to do was come off as clingy or possessive. She was already regretting her hasty decision to visit him when Kaleb ambled out from inside the house with his cell phone pressed to his ear.
He looked annoyed, but more than that, he looked livid. Katie forgot all about her doubts as she watched him stomp a few steps away from the others and spoke rapidly, but quietly into the phone.
“I hope everything’s all right,” Dorothea said, concern etched in her voice.
Katie only nodded as she wondered if it was Joyce on the other end.
When he disconnected and stuffed the device into his pocket, she didn’t go to him. She watched as he expelled a white cloud into the crisp air and turned back to the house.
Carefully, she made her way to his car and leaned against the hood to wait for him. She didn’t need to wait long.
Half an hour later, he called break and the crew ambled their way to the makeshift lunch area. Dorothea went to help serve, but Katie stayed where she was, watching and waiting for Kaleb.
He emerged last, wiping his brow with a red bandana. He stuffed it into his back pocket and started down the four steps. He stopped when he looked up and spotted her. But it wasn’t joy that flittered across his face.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, moving towards her.
Katie hurriedly pushed off the car and stood to face him. “I came to see you. Is that all right?”
He glanced from her to the other cars parked around them as though expecting someone to be watching them.
“You should have stayed at the store,” he said at last, looking at her once more. “Didn’t you get my text?”
Bemused, Katie drew out her phone and checked. She had one missed message.
“I must have missed it over all the noise,” she said, selecting it.
“Don’t leave the store. Will see you tonight,” it read.
Her head came up and she met his gaze. “Why? Did something happen?”
“But we already knew that,” she said.
His boots crunched on snow as he pivoted on his heel and turned to lean his hip on the hood. He folded his arms.
“I just want you to be safe, Katie,” he said. “The guy has one too many screws loose.”
“He texted me,” she said, showing him the message. “I wonder if this is somehow amusing for him.”
“Could be,” Kaleb muttered. “He certainly seems to be enjoying himself.”
Katie hissed and snapped her fingers in aggravation. “Shoot! I forgot to ask Ashlee for that address.”
“I don’t think it matters.” Kaleb put a hand over hers, stopping her from texting Ashlee. “It’s probably not a real address.”
Katie frowned. “But we won’t know that unless we check, right?”
His fingers tightened over hers. “Katie, he’s been careful all this time not to get caught. I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to just give you his address.”
Seeing his point, she lowered her arm. “You’re probably right.”
Something akin to relief flickered over his gaze. “Thank you.” He sighed again and shifted his weight. “I need to get back.” His warm, brown eyes met hers. “I would drive you, but I—”
She waved the offer away. “No, it’s okay. You should stay and finish. I’ll just catch the bus back.”
He straightened. “I’ll walk you. We’re on break anyway.”
They made their way to the bus stop in silence so there was no missing her phone when it chirped.
“It’s from him,” she said when the screen showed unavailable.
Kaleb stopped walking when she did and waited as she opened the message.
“What does it say?” he asked when she simply stared at it.
“One down.” Frowning, she looked up at him. “What do you think that means?”
“I don’t know,” he said, but his voice was tight. “Get home, okay? Be careful.”
He ushered her onto the first bus that rambled up and left her with the promise to see her later that evening.
She was about twenty minutes from home when Larson texted her.
My Soul For You Page 29
