Page 20 of Ruthless Prince

“No, I’ll talk to them,” I replied. “I want to get this over and donewith.”

“All right. I’ll go and let her know that you’re ready now, if you want,” Dr. Georgioureplied.

“Yes,please.”

She took a step closer and lowered her voice slightly. “Just so you know, I’ve arranged for a colleague of mine to be present while you give your statement to the agent. His name is Dr. Monroe. He’s dealt with a few cases like yours and he’s excellent at what he does, but if it makes you uncomfortable and you’d rather have a female doctor, I know some people at other hospitals who are equally equipped to deal with these situations. Your comfort is the most important thing rightnow.”

I smiled weakly. “I think Dr. Monroe will be fine. I’m just glad everyone is taking me seriously foronce.”

She nodded. “Okay. I’ll let everyone know you’re happy toproceed.”

Fifteen minutes later, a tall woman with chestnut hair and a thin bespectacled man appeared in my doorway. The woman rapped on the wall. “Hi, Willow. Can we come in andchat?”

“Sure.”

They briskly stepped inside and sat on chairs in front of my bed. Both had pens and clipboards stacked withpaperwork.

“I’m Dr. Monroe,” the man said with a kindly smile. “For now, I’m just here to listen and make sure you’re as comfortable as possible. Is thatokay?”

“Yes.” I briefly returned his smile before shifting my gaze to thewoman.

She leaned forward. “I’m Special Agent Genevieve Greer, but you can call me Gen if you like,” she said. “I’ve been put in charge of your case by theSAIC.”

“SAIC?”

“Special agent in charge at the Secret Service field office,” shesaid.

“So you’re the ones investigating my stalker? Not the police orFBI?”

“It’s up to us to ensure your safety, so this incident falls under ourjurisdiction.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll need to take your statement of recent events, including last night,” she wenton.

“Okay.”

She tilted her chin slightly to one side. “Are you sure you’re ready to begin?” she asked. “If you feel like you need some more time to compose yourself and gather your thoughts, that’sokay.”

“I’mfine.”

“Right.” She held her pen poised over her clipboard. “In your own words, can you tell me what happened last night? Every detail you canremember.”

Haltingly, I described everything I recalled. The threatening notes on my mirror and floor when I returned from the ball, the terror when I went to sleep later only to wake up to a masked intruder sitting on top of me, the struggle, the gag, the china on my back, the pantyhose ties, the knife, the hypodermic needle… all ofit.

Gen furiously scribbled notes as I spoke, while Dr. Monroe watched me and nodded encouragingly every so often. I noticed he occasionally wrote things down on his clipboard too, and it made me wonder how bad my case was compared with others he’d dealt with in the past. Surely other victims had endured far worse assaults than I did. At least my attacker let me go in the end without raping or savagingme.

It might not feel like it right now, but in the grand scheme of things, I was verylucky.

When I was done describing the horrors of the previous evening, Gen flipped over a few pages on her clipboard. “You’ve reported threatening text messages and emails in the past, haven’tyou?”

“Yes, but they always disappeared as soon as I read them, so I think whoever is doing this to me has some sort of tech know-how.”

She nodded slowly. “And there were letterstoo?”

“Uh-huh. I gave them to my Secret Service detail, so you should have copies ofthem.”

She folded the paperwork back down and gave me a polite smile. “Thank you, Willow. I think I have what I need fornow.”