Sweet Temptation (Sweet #4)(41)

She looked at him with hurt in her eyes. “I did go.”

“And?”

Her lips tightened. “As I told you, they weren’t exactly lining up to do anything for the sister of a man they thought had betrayed you. You didn’t stick around for me, so why should they? The only one who took me seriously was Chad Devereaux.”

A mixture of anger and sorrow hit Micah in the chest. Anger at himself and his department. Sorrow that she’d suffered because of his desertion.

“Chad did what he could, but we didn’t have much to work with. He checked in on me for a while. Did regular patrols by my house. The notes and the ‘gifts’ stopped. I hoped he’d gotten tired of playing his game, but in reality he was waiting and growing angrier and more desperate. He broke into my house and destroyed everything.”

She shivered, and Micah tightened his hold on her.

“It was awful. There was such rage behind his actions. I knew that if I’d been there when he broke in, he would have killed me. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I packed light, liquidated my assets and left town, laying a false trail north.

“I went all the way to Chicago because I wanted it to look like I’d relocated there. I started a bank account, established a residence, and then I bought a car under an assumed name and drove here. Until the time I went to the ER, I didn’t use my real name except with you all. But he’d already found me. Somehow he tracked me here,” she whispered. “The first day I went to work in the café, when I got off that afternoon, I was missing some photos from my car. I honestly thought I had moved them or packed them somewhere, but now I’m not so sure. It could have been him.”

Micah could remain silent no longer. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me all this sooner?”

A shuttered look fell over her face. “Would you have been any happier to see me? I thought I’d dealt with the problem. I thought I’d left it behind. I didn’t come here because I wanted you to solve my problems, and I think if you stop running long enough you’ll know why I came.”

Gray softly cleared his throat, and color worked into Angelina’s cheeks as she turned in his direction. It was as if she’d forgotten all about the others. And hell, so had he.

“Angelina, you just said you’d always planned to come here. Did you tell anyone that?” Gray asked. “Think hard about this.”

She pursed her lips in concentration and slowly shook her head. “There was no one to tell.”

Micah dragged a hand through his hair and met the stares of his friends. Anger was alive in their eyes, and the message was clear. They considered Angelina theirs just as they did Faith, Serena and Julie. No way they were going to allow some psycho ass**le to hurt her.

“I feel the need to point out that it’s entirely possible that this isn’t the same whack job,” Connor said.

Angelina shook her head. “It’s him. I’d recognize the handwriting anywhere, and he always uses that same paper. It’s stationery. Plain, but the texture is different than regular paper.”

“Did you save all the other stuff or did you turn it over to the police?” Micah asked.

“I wasn’t going to turn over my only evidence to them when they weren’t ever going to take me seriously.”

“Did you bring it with you?”

“It’s under my bed,” she said. “Do you want me to get it?”

“I’ll get it,” Connor said. “You just stay put where it’s safe.”

Micah nodded his agreement. If it was up to him—and he was going to make damn sure it was—she wasn’t leaving his side until they nailed the f**ker responsible for terrorizing her.

When Connor left the apartment, Micah pulled Angelina down to his chest again and stroked her hair in a soothing pattern.

“I should get back to the house,” Gray said uneasily. “Faith is alone.”

Nathan balled up his fists, a mixture of rage and fear tightening his features. “Julie’s alone at her place too. If this joker knew enough to pin a note on my truck, he’ll know about Julie too.”

Angelina sat up, her eyes so sad that it took Micah’s breath away. “I’m sorry,” she said, turning to Gray and Nathan. “I never thought in a million years he’d come here or I wouldn’t have brought this to you, I swear it.”

Gray stopped by the couch on his way to the door. He reached out and briefly touched her cheek. “Don’t be taking blame that’s not yours to take. Our girls are tough. We just want to make sure they know what’s going on so they can be careful.”

She nodded miserably, and Nathan and Gray hurried out the door, leaving her alone with Micah.

Restlessly she stirred in Micah’s arms. She shoved and scooted as she tried to get up, but Micah held firm.

“Angel,” he said in a soft voice. “Stop pushing me away. I already feel you putting up the walls and distancing yourself.”

“Just let me up. I need to breathe,” she begged.

Reluctantly he let her go, and as he’d anticipated, she put the entire room between them as she paced a tight line in front of the television.

Connor walked back in, holding a box. He set it down on the coffee table in front of Micah then took a seat in the chair next to the couch.

Angelina wouldn’t even look at Micah when he opened the box. She turned away, tense and worried, her arms wrapped protectively around her slim figure.