little packages. It wasn’t as if this idiot was actually trying to get close to me.
At least, that was what I kept telling myself. I’d repeated it over and over again since the first package, but I wasn’t so sure I believed it.
After dinner, my parents talked me into spending the night in my old room, but Nevaeh and her little family went to their own house, which was just down the block. Really, Mom didn’t have to try very hard to get me to agree. My parents lived in a gated community. The guards worked tirelessly to keep unwanted people out.
Which was why when I walked to my car late the next morning and found a box sitting in my passenger seat, my knees went weak.
Shaking, I got behind the wheel and fought my gag reflex as I called Cathryn on my drive out of the neighborhood.
“Bring it to me, doll,” she said grimly. “And I’m going to suggest you get out of town for a bit. Somewhere this person can’t easily find you. After seeing the contents of the last box, I was worried, but you didn’t want to know what was in it.”
I breathed in deeply, trying to keep the panic from swallowing me whole. “I still don’t, but I think you should tell me.”
“There were pictures, just like last time. On one of the pictures, he left a message and called you ‘little bird’ again. At the bottom of the box, there was a dead bird, Arella. The detective I’ve been working with on this to keep it under the radar said it looked like the poor thing’s neck was broken.”
My gaze jerked to the box on my seat, scared at what could possibly be in there. Was it another dead bird? Ah fuck, I hoped not.
Tears filled my eyes, and I had to blink them away quickly so I could see to drive. “I-I got an offer to go stay with one of my cousins,” I told her in a choked voice.
“I’ll make the arrangements,” she offered. “We’ll book you a flight under one of the aliases that we use when you have to do press tours.”
“I’m on my way to your office now.”
“Listen, doll. I know we both agreed your parents shouldn’t find out about this, but if this guy was at their house…”
One of my tears spilled over my cheek. “As long as I’m not around, he won’t bother them.” Which meant I had to stay away from the two people I loved the most to protect them. Fuck, this wasn’t going to be easy.
“You need private security.”
“I know,” I whispered. “But not yet. Give me a little time, Cathryn. I have a few things I need to figure out. No one will bother me where I’m going. I don’t even think anyone knows Luca moved.”
“All right. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this bastard will just give up if you stay in hiding long enough.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe.”
But in my gut, I knew this guy wasn’t just going to slither back into the dark, disgusting hole he crawled out of.
--
I called Luca to let him know I was taking him up on his offer to help him decorate his new house. But he reminded me that he hadn’t closed yet and wouldn’t until after the new year. He was still at his parents’ house for a few more days, but he told me I could fly back with him if I wanted.
The problem with that was he would draw too much attention on his own. If I were with him, it would stir up the paps even more, and then whoever this stalker was would know exactly where I was. Telling Luca I’d let him know, I drove to Cathryn’s to drop off the box.
Detective Kirtner was standing in her office when I walked in. He was a middle-aged man with a bald patch on top of his head. Skinny, he was dressed in a cheap suit. His face was set in grave lines as he looked at the box I was carrying. I couldn’t bring myself to touch the damn thing with my bare hands, so I’d found a towel in my trunk from one of my trips to the gym and used it to hold the box.
He instructed me to put it on Cathryn’s desk and then pulled on a pair of gloves.
“I don’t know if I want to see what’s in there,” I told him as I backed away.