Page 88 of Duplicitous
“I just want to be clear that this isn’t a favor. It’s a job. You’re the one who decided to move across the ocean and leave me behind. You’re a client now, not a friend.”
That stings a bit, but no more than an irritating fly.
My worry for Karolina is all that matters now.
She’sall that matters.
“Agreed,” I seethe. “Now, are you going to get to work, or not?”
“Give me her address,” he replies. “I haven’t kept up with her activities since you moved on.”
That’s good for him, because if I found out he’d been keeping tabs on her without my knowledge, I’d get on the next flight andend him. No matter if he was once the closest thing I had to a friend.
“I’ll check CCTV,” he says when I tell him where she lives. “Any other leads?”
“I’ll check the feeds from the other cameras.”
“What other cameras?”
“The ones I installed in her apartment.”
He makes a disgusted sound. “You’re kind of creepy, Ragnar.”
Maybe it’s been too long since he’s seen me. He’s not usually this much of an asshole; he doesn’t dare.
“If it is one of your enemies, they’ll suspect she’s your weakness,” he remarks.
“You think I don’t know that?” The question is meant to be harsh, but it comes out anguished.
Ghost whistles. “She’s really got you fucked up, man. Fine,” he says quickly when I snarl at him. “I’m looking into it. Give me a few hours. I’ll call you back.”
I’m almost at my townhouse a few streets away from Karolina’s building. I made sure to rent the tiny flat above her student accommodation so I can be close to her, but I have this nicer place nearby. I chose it for us to live in once she accepted me in her life.
It’s ideally located for the university. We’ll settle here until we move to the manor that I bought to be our family home, where she can write her books in the peace of the countryside.
Now, I choose to go to the townhouse. If I’d left her apartment and simply walked upstairs, she might’ve noticed.
I don’t like the small distance between us, but I’m still close enough to get to her quickly if I need to.
When I get into the house, I immediately check the feeds from the cameras in her place. She’s sitting on her couch withher laptop propped on her knees. She stares straight ahead, and her fingers don’t move over the keyboard.
She’s pale and scared, even though she’s trying to convince herself she can use writing as a distraction.
My heart shreds. I never want her to be afraid. It was hard enough to endure when I was her “stalker”.
But now that the threat is real, her fear is all the more agonizing.
Because it mirrors my own.
I’m terrified of losing her.
I keep the current feed live while I find older footage from earlier in the day. I speed through it, searching for any sign of an intruder.
All I see is her mail slot flipping open as the letter is delivered.
I check the timestamp and text it to Ghost. He has to find a lead for me.
Karolina is frightened. Someone will die for this.
