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“Would you like to spend Christmas with us?” I asked.

His face beamed. “I think the question should be: would you and Kaylee like to plan the Christmas party at my house?”

“Christmas is in two weeks. You want us to move in before that?”

“Your safety is paramount. We can’t postpone that.” He played with a strand of my hair. “As soon as the storm’s over, we’re packing. I’ll have a team of movers to assist you.”

I held up a hand. “Hold on a minute. This is temporary, Arrow. Kaylee and I only need our clothes and some essentials. We don’t need movers—we’re not moving furniture.”

What was he thinking?

He considered my comment for a moment. “Fine.”

“Let me remind you that you own my apartment building. So it should be safe.”

“It needs a security update. The current system can easily be hacked by those who know how.”

CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR

VIVIAN

A week after the storm,I drove to Providence Place for holiday shopping. Kaylee was invited to join Violet and her mom for shopping at Copley Place in Boston. Sixty percent of the snow had already melted, leaving the city streets flooded. But no one cared because the rare warm weather left everyone in a good mood. Anything but another blizzard.

My mood wasn’t as cheerful though. It was a mixture of fear, worry, and the warning blooming in my heart. Everywhere I went, I was extra cautious. What if Ghost was watching me?

I had tried to make a timeline of his life after he’d murdered my mom. He probably went into hiding and then got a job working at Arrow’s warehouse. But now he was in Providence. How long had he been here? Had he been watching me when I was in California? If he’d wanted to kill me, he could’ve easily done so when I thought he was dead.

Or had he moved on and was now working for someone else? Maybe he was a psycho working for himself.

Stop overanalyzing.

I should stop scaring myself by imagining scenarios that weren’t beneficial to my mental state. I needed to clear my head to attend to Kaylee, my patients, and my boyfriend. He was my safety raft when I was too tired to keep swimming. Not only was he helping me find Aimee, but he was also trying to protect me from Ghost, who was his former employee. Arrow’s stress level must have increased exponentially.

Calvin wasn’t able to meet us until he returned from Hong Kong. Neither of us wanted to have the important conversation over the phone. Arrow and I had made a trip to Boston two days ago. We’d visited several shops in Chinatown, asking people if they’d seen Aimee. I’d showed them a couple of pictures of her, but no one had seen her. We also stopped by the Boston Children’s Museum. Arrow knew someone on the Board of Directors who could assist us with the security recordings, but he wasn’t around that day.

Today, Arrow stopped at the museum before his flight to Texas to check on his bamboo winery, which I planned to visit soon. He’d made an appointment to meet his friend, who had allowed him into the security office to review the surveillance footage. I hadn’t heard from him yet.

This man was doing so much for me, and I didn’t know what to get him for Christmas. What did you give someone who already had everything?

I parked my car in the garage and headed to the shops. The other day, Arrow asked me to accompany him to the wine competition in Monaco. From all the images he’d shown me from past events, this would be the most extravagant banquet I’d ever been to. I needed a dress to match it. But that could come after the Christmas gifts.

People were out and about carrying multiple shopping bags. All the stores had some kind of sale going on. I spotted a booth selling Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Keroppi, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, and a bunch of others. I had no idea why Kuromi—the bunny wearing a black jester’s hat and the devil’s tail—was her favorite.

I was never into these characters and lost interest in many things after my severe injuries.

The only things that interested me were the outdoors, fishing, and practicing martial arts. I wanted to defend myself and my dad if anyone ever attacked us. The only girly thing I did was read romance novelsor watch romantic movies.

Seeing all the stuffed animals made me think of Aimee. She would love these Sanrio toys and all the cute stationery. She should be home with her parents preparing for Christmas. How was she coping? Had she gotten thinner? Was she warm enough? My stomach twisted just thinking of all the crazy scenarios running through my mind.

I walked up to the girl wearing a Hello Kitty shirt. “Excuse me. Do you have more Kuromi plushies?”

She held up a finger. “Yup! Let me open up a box for you. My coworker called in sick today, so I’m managing two booths.” She gestured to another booth that sold anime products.

“Great, thanks.”

I purchased a Kuromi plushie Kaylee didn’t have, two T-shirts, a stationery set, and matching pens.

Getting thirsty, I entered the Bubble Tea shop and got a sugar cane drink and a little pastry. The indoor seating was taken up, so I went out to look for a seat along the outside. A woman sat at a table working on her tablet. I took the empty table that gave me a view ofthe Sanrio booth.