Always Been Mine (32 page)

“Is that right? You hadn’t shown anyone until last night?” Alex turned back to the painting. It really was a work of art. He had no idea Valerie had all this in her.

“Well…”

Alex brought his attention back to her when she didn’t finish. She glanced around, suddenly visibly nervous. Bruce immediately came to mind. Alex followed her gaze but she didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular.

He squeezed her hand. “What is it?”

Her eyes met his for a second then they were on the painting again. “Luke saw it.”

Alex let that sink in and tried desperately to not let the discomfort those three little words gave him manifest. “Did he now?” An older couple moved in close to take a look at the painting. Alex and Valerie moved out of the way. “When was this?”

They started making their way back to the table, and Valerie spoke as she glanced around the room. “The day Bruce tried to force his way in my apartment. Remember I told you I was picking up a painting I wanted to get framed?” She glanced at him.

Alex nodded but said nothing.

“Luke called, and when he said he was in the area, I asked if he could stop by and take a look at it. He was there for all of ten minutes. With everything going on, I thought maybe it would upset you further. Even though it was nothing, I didn’t mention it.”

They reached their table, and Alex pulled out her chair for her. Once they were sitting, he took her hand and kissed it. “Don’t make it a habit to keep things from me just because you think it might upset me. I’m glad you told me.” He kissed her lips. “The painting is beautiful.”

He was glad she’d finally come clean about it. But Alex’s unease about her still working with Luke just reached a new height. The fact that Luke had been given privy to something that was so important to her spoke volumes about her relationship with the guy. He squeezed her hand and tried not to let this change his mood. As much work as he’d put into this wedding, he wanted to be able to enjoy it.

With the first dance over and all the other traditional dances out of the way, it was time for tossing the bouquet. Because Valerie was the maid of honor, she got to be front row center. They played the drum roll counting down starting from five. All the single ladies readied themselves. When they got down to two, Sarah turned around. Rather than tossing it over her head, she threw it at Valerie.

Valerie was startled but still managed to hold on to it. Some jeered: others laughed.

“Hey, she’s the Queen tonight. She’s allowed to do whatever she wants.” The wedding host teased into the microphone.

Sarah winked at Alex, and he smiled at Valerie. It paid to know people in high places. Alex put in the request when it was his turn to do the dollar dance with Sarah. Knowing what that meant, Sarah had been thrilled at the suggestion.

Valerie shoved the bouquet at him with a smirk when she reached him. “I don’t suppose you had anything to do with this?”

Alex feigned shock at the mere suggestion. Valerie laughed. “You guys are so bad.”

The formalities were nearly over. Sarah and Angel stood by the wedding cake, the photographers snapping away as they cut the first slice. Alex would be glad when the photographers were finally relieved of their duties. He’d never posed so much in his life.

All in all, the wedding had been a success, and the service even for a wedding of this magnitude had gone smoothly. He slid his arm around Valerie and brought her closer. With the wedding out of the way now, he could focus on what he really needed to get taken care of: Bruce.

Since the night before the wedding, they hadn’t heard a word from Bruce. Alex wasn’t taking any chances. After hearing about Hank’s piss breaks, he had Romero add another guy to watch Valerie. Steve was an ex-cop and supposed to be one of the best.

With Angel and Sarah honeymooning in Cabo, Alex felt it was safe to wait until they got back to talk to Angel about it. He only hoped by then he’d know enough about this guy to nail him.

In the meantime, he’d let Sofia in on Valerie’s stalker, leaving a few of the more alarming details out. He made her promise to tell him if she noticed anything unusual, no matter how insignificant she thought it was. At the moment, he didn’t feel it necessary to have anyone watch her, but if he had to, he would. The idea of Bruce coming after his family infuriated him.

He stalked out of the back room and into the restaurant. Sal was in a booth with a couple of young guys—he’d been interviewing potential employees all morning. With Sarah and Angel gone for the week and a couple of employees out sick, the restaurant was really feeling the pinch. Now that Angel and Sarah’s restaurant was projected to be up and running before the end of the year, Alex was not only losing them, they’d be taking a few of the seasoned cooks, waitresses and bartenders with them. His dad said they would need all the help they could get until they got things running smoothly.

“Nah, I’m still working. Just give me a soda.” Romero drummed his fingers on the bar. “So, this guy keeps journals.
Online
journals. Some of the entries are public but most of the ones about Valerie are not.”

Alex stopped what he was doing. “He’s writing about Valerie?”

“Oh yeah, dude the guy is
obsessed
.”

Alex knew that, but hearing that Bruce was writing stuff about Valerie on the Internet was still unsettling to say the least.

“If it’s not public, how do you know what he’s writing?” Alex handed Romero the soda.

Romero gave him a look before taking the glass. “Alex, I told you this guy could get into Bruce’s bank account if he wanted. An online journal is nothing.”

Romero stared at Alex, annoyed. “He comes highly recommended from a very reliable source. I’d never steer you wrong. What, do you think I’m an idiot or something?”

“Anyway, Mr. X says any type of documentation is the best way to get into this guy’s head. That’s why he went looking for it to begin with. Stalkers and serial killers are notorious for being compulsive planners. This will definitely help if he’s stupid enough to write down what he’s planning next. So, far he has been. The problem is he’s not
that
stupid.”

Romero took a long drink of his soda. Alex waited impatiently. There always had to be a damn catch.

After nearly finishing the entire glass of soda, Romero put the glass down, burped then continued. “These journals, in some cases blogs haven’t been easy to find. They’re not in his name, of course. He uses different emails to set them up. If he were writing out of one computer only, it would be easy. He’d just hack the computer and get everything he done through it. But he doesn’t. He goes from one computer to another, most in public places like libraries and computer cafés.”

“So, how do we know it’s even him writing them?”

“Trust me, Alex. Mr. X knows. He changes the password on the journals blogs often enough, but not the email he uses to get in them. Mr. X says that’s pretty cocky of him since the passwords a no-brainer to hack. With the same email address Mr. X can stay on his trail.”

“So, far that’s the main thing. But he seems to think it’s pretty significant. He’s gonna go back all the way to when Valerie first met the guy. You said this was about a year ago, right?”

The same irritation he’d felt with himself when he first heard that Valerie had met the guy
weeks
after breaking things off with him sunk in. He felt completely responsible now for her ever meeting this psycho.

“So, he’s digging into that. He says it helps to find out what motivated this guy to come after her the way he has in the first place. Also, he’s mentions friends and acquaintances in the entries. That could lead us to where he might be staying.”

Alex chewed on everything Romero had just laid on him, his arms still tightly crossed over his chest. “How long is it going to take before we know any more?”

“He’s real close. I tell you he’s
good
. But there’s a lot he says he has to sift through. For every clue he finds there’s a ton of useless garbage he has to read through.” Romero stood up. “As soon as I know more I’ll let you know.” Romero tapped the top of the bar. “I gotta go.”

He started to walk away. Alex nodded lost in thought. Romero stopped and turned around. “Did you ever find out what was up with Valerie meeting Luke the morning of the rehearsal dinner?”

Alex came out of his stupor. “Yeah, she had to give him keys to some properties he was showing, but that’s all she said.”

“Did she mention anything about him being at her apartment?”

He’d tried pushing both incidents to the back of his mind, but the truth was it still gnawed at him. “He dropped by to take a look at a painting. Why?”

Romero studied him for a moment. “Hank wasn’t sure if it was worth mentioning, so he said he’d leave it up to me. Did you know she had breakfast with Luke yesterday and this morning?”

His arms still crossed in front of him, Alex squeezed them even tighter. Valerie had rushed out of the house both mornings claiming she didn’t have time for breakfast. “No. I didn’t.”

Romero didn’t say anything for a moment, then shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it’s just me. If Izzy was having breakfast with an ex two days in row and didn’t tell me about it, I’d have a problem with it. But Valerie works with the guy, so… whatever. Just thought I’d mention it.”

He started for the door. Alex could feel the drumming of his pulse in his ears as he watched Romero walk out. The image of Valerie and Luke hugging and holding hands the morning of the rehearsal assaulted him. Add that to the fact that she’d chosen him, of all people to show the painting to, this really brought a serious question to mind. Was it possible she’d played down her relationship with Luke and her feelings for him ran deeper than she was admitting?

*

When Luke called Valerie earlier in the week to tell her he wanted to talk to her about something very important, Valerie almost turned him down. He wanted to do it away from the office to avoid anyone overhearing or starting to speculate. She had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about—he only said it was completely work related. She knew how Alex felt about Luke. He’d most certainly have an issue with her getting together with him outside of the office, but if it was really work related he’d just have to understand.

After having breakfast with him the first time, she was glad she had. Corporate was looking into opening another office in the La Jolla area. They asked Luke if there was anyone he could recommend to manage it, and he said the only one he’d even consider was Valerie. While there were quite a few with more experience than Valerie in the office, he said none had the drive and dedication but most importantly, the stamina she did. There was no one else he could recommend that he truly believed could handle an entire office, nor did he think any of them would want to.

This didn’t mean she would get it for sure. Luke wasn’t the only one being asked for recommendations. But she had to let him know ASAP, because they’d be starting the interview process soon. There would be others considered as well. Valerie told him she’d sleep on it and get back to him. By the next morning, and after mulling it over with her dad and Isabel, she was convinced it would definitely be a good career move. She’d met him again, certain that when she told Alex that she might not be working with Luke anymore he’d be willing to overlook her meeting up with him outside of the office.

She wouldn’t bring it up just yet. They’d be interviewing all the recommended candidates soon. Luke mentioned he could coach her. That would definitely mean more time alone with him, and she didn’t need Alex obsessing about that.

Just the night before, Alex brought up Luke out of nowhere. Obviously, the fact that she saw Luke everyday still bothered him. Like she always did when Alex brought up Luke, she tried to change the subject. But last night Alex probed a little more than usual. She’d make sure any coaching would be done in the office. She didn’t need to add anymore fuel to the fire.

Valerie sat at her desk feeling exhausted. Deciding to call it in early today and head home, she began to pack things up. Luke leaned into her cubicle as she pushed her laptop into her briefcase.

“You out already?”

“Yeah,” She leaned back in her chair. “It’s been a pretty productive, but boring contract-writing day. I’m done.”