After her family left, Brock approached her again, but his steps were shakier than when he’d entered. He and Stella had a quick exchange before he rushed off to the bathroom. A minute later, she stood and swayed then sat back down. Her face was pale, and she looked like she was having trouble breathing. My knuckles turned white against the back of the manager’s chair. Someone had to have drugged her. That was the simplest, most plausible explanation.
The urge to step inside the screen and comfort her, then pulverize the bastard who’d done that to her, overwhelmed me. Stella stood again and stumbled toward the door. She was right by the exit, and she only made it a few feet before someone came up behind her. My senses went on high alert. I stared at the figure. Tall, baseball cap, dark jacket. They paused by the exit, then left at the same time. I couldn’t see the full scope of what happened due to the angle, but the way the figure’s shoulders shifted, the jacket in the middle of summer, the careful way he kept his face turned away from the camera… He had a gun. I was sure of it. I was also sure I’d seen that jacket before. My pulse roared with lethal certainty. “Rewind the tape,” I ordered. “Stop.”
The video paused where Stella and Brock placed their orders. The same figure stood next to them at the counter. He paid for his drink in cash and drummed his fingers until Brock turned his back to say something to Stella. What happened next took only a few seconds. A casual reach
inside his jacket, a quick tap of what looked like two tiny packets into Stella’s and Brock’s mugs, and a return to drinking his coffee. He was fast. He’d also slipped up. When he turned his head to face forward again, I caught a glimpse of his profile. I’d seen it before during two separate background checks. Motherfucker. All the pieces clicked into place. How he got into the Mirage.
Why there had been no evidence of him leaving the building. His connection to Stella. I didn’t bother thanking the manager or getting Brock, who was still incapacitated in the bathroom.
Instead, I sent out a code black to the company along with the stalker’s name and instructions to find him and Stella as soon as possible. Reserved for extreme emergencies, the code black alert recalled all agents in the area for a new assignment. I had never once used it until now. If the stalker had been smart enough to evade detection this long, he was smart enough not to turn on his cell phone or use his personal car. Still, we had the information necessary to track him down. I only hoped that, when we did, it wasn’t too late.
49
STELLA
A prickle of sensation dragged me from the dark, murky wells of unconsciousness. It started as a tingle in my fingers and toes. Then it was the hard press of wood beneath my thighs. Finally, it was the rough abrasion of ropes around my wrists and a pounding pain behind my eyes. The only times I’d been tied up were with Christian, but that’d been consensual. This…I didn’t know what this was. All I knew was, it hurt, and my throat was dry, and my head throbbed like someone had shoved a jackhammer or ten in there. Concrete anchors dragged down my lids.
The darkness wasn’t soft and gentle like the gradual drift to sleep. It was endless and menacing, like the weight of the earth after being buried alive. I forced my lungs to expand past my rising panic. Breathe. Think. What happened? I struggled to sort through the day’s events. I remembered meeting my family at the cafe. Brock running to the restroom. Nausea, dizziness, stumbling out for air…and the cold press of a gun against my ribcage. A voice, then blackness.
Oh God. I’d been kidnapped. The realization sank in with cold, sharp claws. The desire to sink into panic consumed me, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stay in the present. I was not dying like this. I wasn’t dying at all. Not for a very, very long time. I pried my eyes open through sheer force of will. Dizziness warped my vision before my surroundings took shape. I was in some sort of ramshackle cabin made of corrugated metal and wood. A thick film of grime coated the windows and muted the sunlight scattered on the floor. There was no furniture other than the chair I was bound to and a lopsided table that held a length of rope and, almost laughably, a takeout container of food. Bile coated my throat. Where was I? Judging by the light, it hadn’t been long since I was knocked out, which meant we couldn’t have gone too far. “You’re awake.” My head whipped toward the familiar voice, and a second bout of dizziness washed over me. When it cleared, the bile thickened. I knew why the voice was so familiar. “No.” The croak sounded pathetically weak. Julian smiled. “Surprised?” D.C.’s most celebrated lifestyle journalist looked different outside the glossy confines of his Washington Weekly headshot and
the one time we’d met in person. It’d been for my profile photoshoot, and he’d been nice.
Unassuming. He’d been even nicer during the dozen or so times we spoke on the phone. But now that I looked closer, I spotted the mad glint in his eyes and the unnaturalness of his smile. It was the smile of a psychopath. My pulse jackknifed. “I thought you might be.” Julian smoothed a hand over the front of his shirt. “You don’t remember me, do you?” “You’re a writer for Washington Weekly.” My tongue felt thick in my mouth. He must’ve slipped something in my drink at the cafe. Whatever it was, its effects lingered and clouded the edges of my consciousness. “Obviously.” I could’ve sworn he rolled his eyes. “Before that, Stella. We had a class together at Thayer. Communications Theory with Professor Pittman. You sat two seats in front of me and to my right.” A smile of reminiscence appeared. “I liked that class. It was where I first saw you.” Thayer. Communications Theory. Quick flashes of a quiet blond boy sitting in the back of the class filtered through my mind’s eye, but I’d taken that class years ago. I barely remembered what the professor looked like, much less my classmates. “I didn’t tell you during our many lovely chats. I wanted to see if you remembered.” His smile collapsed into a frown.
“You didn’t, but that’s okay. I was a different person back then. Less successful, less worthy of you. I told you how I felt with my letters, but I had to make something of myself before I knew you’d accept me. It’s why I didn’t contact you earlier. But now…” He spread his arms. “We can finally be together.” “Be together? You kidnapped me!” I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was saying. The situation was too surreal. “Yes, about that. I’m sorry I had to knock you out, but it made things easier.” Apology entered his voice. “I would untie you too, but I can’t do that until we fix you.” The scene was growing more surreal by the second. “What are you talking about?”
“Christian Harper.” The name dripped with so much acid it burned in the back of my throat. “You think you’re still in love with him. I can see it in your eyes.” Oh God. Christian. The full import of what was happening hit me. Julian was clearly off his rocker, and he had me tied up in the middle of God knows where. I could try to escape, but I had no car, and I was still woozy from being hit over the head. There was a strong possibility I would never see Christian, my friends, or my family again. Panic climbed higher in my chest, but I forced it back down. I’ll figure out a plan. I had to. Until then, I needed to keep Julian talking instead of doing…whatever else he had planned for me. My stomach lurched. “I’m not dating Christian anymore.” God, I wish I were. I wished I was in his apartment right now, making tacos while he teased me about putting too much cheese on mine and grumbled when I answered my social media messages instead of paying attention to him. Hot tears pooled on my lower lids. “I didn’t say you were still dating him,” Julian snapped. “I said you’re still under the delusion that you love him!” His voice escalated before he took a deep breath and smoothed a hand over his shirt again. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault,” he said soothingly. “He deceived you. Tricked you into falling for the looks and money. But we’re the ones who are supposed to be together. I’ve known that since I first saw you. I dreamed about you after that first day of class, you know.”