at the wonderful intrusion. “I’m not doing very well here, am I? I don’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”
Jake apologizing to me is only making me feel worse. If he was pushier, then I could at least argue with him and try to teach him a lesson. He makes it that much harder being nice like this. It just adds to me hating him even more—or loving him. I wish my brain would shut up and stop thinking. It’s literally doing my head in!
Just as Jake is leaning back in his chair, light catches my eyes. My head snaps to what caused it, and I swear I see a glimpse of a figure near a tree smoking a cigarette. Sunlight blinds me again, but when I blink a couple of times and shield my eyes with my hand, the figure has gone.
But I know who it was.
Fucking Spector!
“What’s wrong?” Jake asks, glancing in the direction I’m fixated on.
While Jake’s looking, I take a moment to grit my teeth in frustration. “Nothing. I just thought I saw someone I knew, but my eyes were playing tricks on me.” I laugh it off like it’s nothing, but of course, it’s far from the truth. What does he want with me? Why am I so fricking special?
It’s a welcome distraction when the waitress comes soon after to take our plates. Jake requests the bill and when she returns with it a couple of minutes later, she smiles seductively when she hands it to him. An angered frown forms as I stare at her, shocked by her audacity. Jake’s completely oblivious to it, of course, which only makes me want him all the more. She then looks at me making her way over to where I’m sitting. This is strange.
“Are you Ana Sinclair?”
“Yes,” I reply, confusion surely written all over my face. I glance towards Jake who appears just as confused as me.
“I was asked to hand you this note from a gentleman who just left.”
She reaches her hand out to me, and I take the note, thanking her. I grit my teeth again. He can’t come within a hundred yards of me, so he’s resorted to sending me notes now?
Angered at his brazenness, I open it up and gasp loudly, throwing the piece of paper on the table like it just scorned me.
It’s not from Spector.
I place my hand on my chest and grip onto it for dear life, my eyes scanning the offending piece of paper before my eyes shoot to the crowd around us.
He’s here! The bastards here!
Jake immediately shoots up from his chair. “Ana, what’s going on? Who sent you that note? Ana!”
I’m frozen, unable to move or speak a word. He quickly snaps the note from the table and reads it. Jake, noticing my unease as I glance around us, quickly throws some money on the table and pulls me up. “Come with me. We need to talk.”
I don’t argue with him. I need to get out of here fast. Alan has just tainted one of the few places I felt safe and happy.
On the way back to the car, I’m quickly snapped into reality with the thought that Jake now knows of his existence. The one person I wanted to hide my ugly secret from is now about to find it out. I never wanted it to be this way. Agent Marcos told me I had to report it, and he was right, but I didn’t want it to happen like this.
Not like this.
Once in the car and driving, we pull into a secluded spot about ten minutes away before Jake switches the engine off and turns to me.
“Who is this? Tell me, please. Has he hurt you?” My body trembles, so he reaches his hand across to mine. “Ana, whoever this is, I can tell he’s scared the shit out of you. Are you being stalked or something?” I nod my head because at the moment it’s all I can do. “Why haven’t you reported this? Do you know who he is?” I nod my head again. “So who is it, a past boyfriend? The note said, ‘Are you trying to make me jealous?’ What does he mean?”
I take a deep breath and wipe my eyes. “He was my stepfather.”
His face contorts in agony. It is just what I wanted to avoid and the reason why I never told him.
“What happened between you two? Did you ..?”
I shake my head, willing him to stop. I know