by Kathy Lyons
“I don’t like it. And if you lie about me again, I’m ending our contract.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Is your leg hurting you? Let me buy you a drink and—”
“No.”
“—we can talk new publicity ideas. We need to get going on—”
“No.”
“—another calendar idea. I was thinking—”
“No!”
She pulled up short, her expression filled with hurt. “There’s no need to shout. I thought I taught you better than that.”
I shook my head. She was right—my knee was hurting. But that had nothing to do with my next move. Dialing one-handed, I called the security office. Someone answered right away.
“Hi, this is Connor Hart. I’m standing outside of Gia’s office. I need you to escort Sophia Hart to her car. Her press and family privileges are revoked. I don’t want her in the ballpark again unless I tell you otherwise.” I waited as the voice on the other end assured me that it would be handled immediately and that two guards were on their way. I thanked them and looked directly at my sister’s shocked expression. “I’m done letting you get away with this kind of bullshit. Clean up your act or there will be nothing left between us.”
“Nothing left? Are you forgetting what I’ve done for you? If it weren’t for me—”
Gia’s voice cut through the tirade. “What are you doing in my office?”
I spun around, faltering when it tweaked my knee. “Security is on the way. She was going through your desk.”
Gia rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s why I put everything important in the locked cabinet.”
It took me a moment to process that. Had Sophia really—?
“Oh my God, it’s all so clear now!” Sophia bellowed. “It’s her. She’s poisoned you against me. I never thought I’d see the day when my brother let himself be led around by a little tramp—”
My knee be damned. I grabbed my sister by the arm and dragged her out of Gia’s office.
“Not another word, Sophia. Not. Another. Damned. Word.”
She pushed her trembling lips together, her breath short and tight. And then big fat tears started rolling down her cheeks. I wanted to believe that they were fake. Hell, they probably were. But I’d seen those tears when we buried our mother and again when our father was put in the ground. I’d seen them when she was trying to study for a test and realized that the refrigerator was empty and no one had money for pizza. I’d seen those tears before when they’d been real. But I couldn’t tell now if these were fake, real, or some combination of both.
And I couldn’t stand there holding my sister against the wall when she was crying.
I eased back. Thankfully, security chose that moment to show up.
“Connor…” Sophia said, her voice breathy with pain.
“Go. Now.”
She waited a moment. I couldn’t look at her face, so I turned away. I heard security directing her to “Come this way,” then only footsteps and a loud sound as Sophia blew her nose.
God, I couldn’t feel more wretched.
I felt Gia’s arm slip around my waist. “I’ve got an hour before my next media event. Want to grab a cheeseburger?”
I nodded. I wanted a greasy cheeseburger, unhealthy sweet potato fries, and a bottomless mug of beer. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She pressed a kiss to my lips. “I’m not.”
We went together for food. She ended up getting a call after forty-five minutes—something about setting up interviews before the next game. I waved her away and wished I could be part of the excitement, but I had to take care of my knees, first. And if the guys could just win the League Championship, I’d have a shot at the World Series.
Assuming everything went right.
So I did everything I was supposed to. I let Gia do her job. I didn’t respond to Sophia’s voicemail apologies and pleas for understanding. I also did my exercises, iced obsessively, took the cortisone shots, and let the trainers massage, stimulate, and stretch me in ways that could make a grown man cry. I didn’t, but damn, there were times my eyes definitely watered from the pain.
Gia and I got together when her schedule allowed for it. We had sweet nights and shared our lives in every way but the important ones. We didn’t talk about Sophia, and I never said, “I love you,” though I felt it in every part of my body.
The whole thing made me irrationally angry. Gia deserved better than what I was giving her. I lived in fear that she would wake up and demand something that, for some reason, I was unable to give.
But she didn’t push, and I loved her all the more for it.
And the Bobcats won the American League Championship.
I was there for the celebration. My crutches were a thing of the past, and I’d even been able to do some easy warm-ups. My knee wasn’t up to playing yet, but I was getting close. I could feel it. Or maybe it was the Bobcat fever that had gripped Indianapolis. Everywhere I went, people recognized me. They asked about my rehab and how soon I could play.
“Soon,” was my answer, and I prayed it was true.
The night before the team left for the World Series against the Cardinals, we were at my place, grabbing a quick meal of coq au vin that I had made myself. I always cooked when I had time on my hands. Gia was deep into her fifth groan of foodgasm when her phone rang.
I couldn’t hear who was calling, but Gia’s look of alarm was enough to get me putting the food away. Especially when she spoke.
“Slow down, Cassie. Tell what happened.” Fear shot through me, then terror at her next words. “Call Campus Security. I’m on my way.”
Chapter Twenty
Gia
I hate secrets. They never help anyone, least of all the person holding something inside. It wasn’t just the big stuff—like how Connor kept his contract with Sophia secret from Cassie. Or the medium stuff—like Cassie’s stalker secret which was about to get exposed. But even Secret Santa shit and surprise birthday parties irritated me. If you wanted to exchange gifts, then you should just do it. Same with a birthday party. Don’t force people to keep secrets for you.
But I also respected that some things had to be dealt with without other people’s interference. And so, out of respect for Cassie’s secret, I tried to get Connor to stay home and let me deal with things.
“If she wanted you there, she would have called you directly,” I argued.
He’d already grabbed his jacket and was standing at the door. “Are you driving or am I?”
Like I needed him torqueing his bad knee driving at insane speeds. “I am,” I answered, surrendering to the inevitable. “And you will follow my lead. This is a delicate situation.”
“Just tell me what’s going on.” He was walking faster than I was and I had to jog to keep up. It wasn’t easy in my heels, but then again, I was as anxious as he was to get to Cassie. We made it to my car in record time.
I still tried to keep Cassie’s secret. “If she’d wanted you to know—”
“How long has this been going on?”
I winced. His jaw was clenched, his hands were fists, and he was barking questions at me like a drill sergeant.
“Just short of a couple months.”
“Months!”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t even know what this is. It could be nothing.”
“My sister has been calling you for…” Understanding dawned in his eyes. “Girl stuff. This is what she called girl stuff.”
Well, I’d never said he was stupid. “Is that what she told you?”
“So what is it?”
I slowed down for a stop light, cursing the delay. But in the pause, I was able to spill it all.
“She had a stalker, and she thinks he’s back.”
“A what!”
I winced at the explosion of sound. “We’ve done all the right things. Campus Security knows all about it, as does her coach. She’s in a public place—”
“We’re going to her volleyball game?�
��
“Yeah. She finally managed to get a decent picture of him. Up until now, he’s made himself scarce. But he’s left messages taped to her dorm room door and dropped Bobcat paraphernalia off for her as gifts.”
“Who is it? Did she send you the picture?”
“Yes.” I pulled out my phone and flipped to the image. I was working to keep Connor calm. God knew he was hyperprotective of Cassie. But honestly, I was thrilled to possibly see an end to this little drama.
“Tell me everything,” Connor said, his voice grim as he pulled out his own phone.
“Don’t bother calling her. She’s in the middle of a game.”
“I’m not.” He didn’t elaborate on what he was doing, except that I heard him texting someone. Then before I could force him to explain, he set his phone in his lap and turned to me. “Is there anything else?”
I shook my head. It had been excruciatingly hard keeping this secret from him, but Cassie had been adamant. She was as protective of Connor as he was of her.
“It started at the beginning of her season, about once a week. His notes were creepy, saying how family is the most important thing in the world. How she should make sure she talks to those who love her.”
“Family? Not about how he…wants her or something?”
“There’s a little of that, too. About how beautiful she is. How good she is at volleyball. How she looks just like her sister.”
I felt him tense at that. The cops had, too.
“We think he’s stalking Sophia, too, because he’s said some detailed stuff about her. Only generic things about you, though.”
“And you told Sophia?”
“The cops did.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing as far as I’m aware. She laughed it off as silly.”
Conner growled low in his throat. “Of course, she did.”
I glanced at him. He was furious. I could see that clearly, but I couldn’t tell if he was also worried for Sophia. I knew he was pissed that we’d kept this from him. I would be, too.
“Cassie made me swear over and over that I wouldn’t tell you. She said she would. But then everything—the notes, the presents—stopped.”
“Until when?”
“Just a few weeks ago. Right after the win over the Rangers.”
“Yeah, that tracks.”
I jerked my gaze to his. There was a clarity in his voice that told me he was way more on top of things than I was. “What do you know?”
His expression was grim as he tilted my phone toward me. It still showed the grainy picture of Cassie’s stalker.
“That’s Sophia’s old assistant. He went MIA just before the All-Star Game, probably right after the cops told her that he was stalking Cassie.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Sophia’s assistant be stalking Cassie?”
“To get dirt on her, to keep Cassie fragile.” He gripped his phone hard enough his knuckles went white. “I told you Sophia likes to keep track of me, how I knew she bribed a janitor at the ballpark.”
“Yeah, I thought that was crazy.”
“It is crazy.” He glared at the image on my phone. “And crazy attracts crazier. She probably ordered him to keep tabs on Cassie, and this was his creepy way of doing it.”
I pulled into the parking lot. “But why would he start up again now? Why did he come back? What does he have to gain?”
“Sophia’s attention? Cassie’s? I don’t know, but I sure as hell intend to find out.”
I pulled the car into the nearest parking spot. It wasn’t that close to the front door, but it was the best I could do. Connor was out before I could stop the car, and I was behind him a second later, running to keep up.
“We need to tell the cops.”
He didn’t even slow down. “I already have. I texted the information to Campus Security.”
So that was who he texted. Connor had probably put their number in his contacts list the day Cassie had been accepted at Butler.
“And I told them they should arrest Sophia, too, since she’s the one ultimately responsible.”
Holy shit.
He glanced at his watch. “She should be here in about ten minutes.” He shot me a look. “I texted her, too.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Connor
It was a good thing that college volleyball didn’t draw the kind of crowds major league baseball did. Because it meant I wasn’t looking for a person in a crowd of a hundred thousand, just one guy among a few hundred. Still, it wouldn’t be easy to catch him.
But first things first. I found Cassie right away and was relieved to see she was okay. She was playing hard and had her game face on. It looked a lot like mine with a firm jaw and laser focus in her gaze.
Damn, I was so proud that she was channeling her fear and anger into her sport. I knew that feeling really well.
The crowd roared—me along with them—but it only lasted a split second. Still, it was long enough for Cassie to see me at the edge of the gym floor. Her eyes widened, and her gaze flickered to Gia, who came up beside me. There was a quick flash of female body language—a twitch of an eye, a shrug of the shoulders. I couldn’t follow it, but in the end, Cassie sent me a determined smile and a thumbs-up to tell me she was okay.
I believed her, because she was playing and because she was in public. No asshole could get her in the middle of the game. So it was up to me to find the dick before the end of the match.
I started looking around. I spotted a single Campus Security guy immediately, but damn, the kid looked younger than Cassie. Gia started searching with me, but I pushed her toward the stands.
“Keep an eye on Cassie,” I ordered.
She snorted. “It’s so cute that you think you can order me around. I’ve been dealing with this for a lot longer than you have.” Then she looked at the security guard. “Hey, Kevin. This is—”
“Yes, I recognize Mr. Hart. How’s the knee?”
“About to get a workout,” I said as I started to mount the stairs to the running track above the gym. That would be a good place for an asshole to hide, right?
“Take it easy,” Gia said as she ran beside me. “No point in screwing up your knee before the World Series.”
“Do you honestly think I give a damn about baseball right now?”
“No, but keep your head, okay?”
I knew she was right. Security was better able to help here, and the worst thing I could do was let my emotions control me. But damn it, this time Sophia had gone too far. I’d had enough, and I was damn well going end this. Completely.
Gia saw him first. The upper deck had given us a better view, and she saw the bastard skulking around the snack table.
“There!” she said, pointing.
Kevin was on his walkie-talkie immediately. A couple more campus cops had shown up, and the three were coordinating. It didn’t matter to me. I’d spotted him, and I wasn’t going to let him get away.
“Connor!”
It was too late. I was already halfway down the stairs. Bad knee or not, I could be fast when I wanted to be. I cut straight across the gym and through the back line of Cassie’s volleyball team, gaining ground on him. And to make sure everyone saw him, I bellowed his name.
“Theo Gorman!”
Theo’s head whipped up, and his eyes widened. The referee blew his whistle as I came barreling through and people near Theo scrambled to get out of my way. I sidestepped them while Theo turned tail. Behind me, I heard people shouting, but my attention was focused on the bastard who had terrified my sister.
He was quick as he ran through the stands. I felt a twinge in my knee but ignored it as I pushed to faster speeds. And then he cut around a pillar and headed for the back door.
“No way,” I growled.
Faster. Closer. Almost…
I leaped and tackled him.
We went down on the hard floor. I felt his head thunk and my knee wrench. His hands were slapping
at my face, but I had him pinned. A moment later, I saw the heavy boots of three security guards surround us and heard the clack of Gia’s heels.
“Is that him, miss? Is this the guy?”
I hauled Theo’s face around to where Cassie was standing right beside Gia.
“Yes,” said Cassie. “That’s him.”
And then another voice cut through the crowd. The loud cry of the other culprit, her voice making my back molars grind.
“Oh my God! You caught him! Thank God.”
Sophia was coming through the back door. Her eyes were wide and her mascara smeared down her cheeks. She looked as if she was horrified and indignant all at once.
The perfect actress.
“We have him now, Mr. Hart,” said the oldest security guard. At least he looked like he shaved. “Let us take him into custody.”
I nodded and gingerly crawled off the bastard. I wanted to make sure he didn’t try to bolt again, but I also was starting to worry about what I’d just done to my knee. Fortunately, the idiot didn’t run. Within moments he was in handcuffs.
“Cassie, are you all right?” Sophia cried.
Cassie nodded, her gaze locked on her stalker, but my movements were all for Sophia. I crossed to her side and gripped her by the arm.
“Take her into custody, too,” I said. “She’s the one who ordered him to terrorize Cassie.”
“What?” she gasped as she tried to wrench out of my hold. “Have you gone crazy?”
“Nope,” I answered. “I’m just coming to my senses. You couldn’t leave her alone, could you? You had to keep her off-balance, had to keep her fragile.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I love Cassie!”
“No, you love making money off of me. And you knew I wouldn’t dump you as long as she was too weak to face you.” Then I forcefully turned us both so that we were looking at Cassie. “Look at her now, Sophia. Really look.” Then I called out to my other sister. “Cassie, how are you doing now? How do you feel?”
Gia and Cassie turned to us, but it was Cassie who straightened and got that fierce competitor look that we shared. She stalked right up to Sophia, holding her sister’s gaze for a moment before turning back to me.
