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A few minutes later somebody else comes in. One of the interns judging by her blue coat.

“That’s a nice, boot-licking secretary,” she unprofessionally utters.

The way she’s looking at me is filled with interest. All the interns here seem to want to chat about my research.

I push my glasses up my nose and focus on the study again.

She works on another research floor, and although I let interns come into my lab from time to time, she shouldn’t be here right now.

“The test results are in,” she says, dropping a file on my desk.

“Oh, I already got them.” The numbers aren’t matching up like they should, and that’s reigniting my headache.

“ Do you need something else?” she suddenly murmurs from behind me.

What I need is Michael since he’s a pathologist specializing in hematology. He’s provided essential insight and information. But I know he’s indisposed because of last night.

“No, thank you,” I reply without looking up—my eyes glued to the microscope.

“What are you doing? Can I help?” She leans forward, brushing against my back to see what I’m reviewing, unnecessarily crowding me.

“No. I need a hematologist.” I keep my voice flat, ready to push her away if she doesn’t back off this instant.

Her hand lands on the microscope near mine, her thumb touches my skin for a moment. I straighten abruptly. That fleeting contact made me uneasy.

She looks remorseful, an apologetic smile twitching her lips as I shift and turn her way. “Blood never lies, right?”

I frown at her.

“Haven’t you ever seen Dexter? The TV show,” she adds. She doesn’t move, but I still feel uncomfortable. This stalker ordeal is turning me into a jumpy monkey.

“No,” I reply.

My eyes fall to the name on her coat: Maggie Smith.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you, but I’ve been wanting to ask something for a while. Would you?—”

Sandy’s return stops whatever Maggie was about to say. His eyes flicker from the intern to me. He can probably see how tense I am.

“You. Out.” He tilts his head to the door while his eyes stay on the intern.

Maggie doesn’t move. The smile has dropped from her lips. Her teasing gaze has turned into a glare aimed at Sandy.

“You shouldn’t be here. Dr. Bear-Stone’s lab is inaccessible to interns,” Sandy continues, moving closer to us.

“Sorry.” The intern suddenly looks embarrassed. “I just brought the test results, that’s all.”

“It’s not your job,” the PA insists, holding up the mug filled with my hot tea. He moves between us and hands it to me.

Maggie finally takes a step back. “Dr. Crisp told me to bring them here.”

“I’ll definitely verify that. Now go back to the other interns.”

She sends me a small smile before finally leaving the room.

Sandy quickly starts tapping on his phone. “Oh, those groupies of yours. Don’t worry, you’ll never see her again after I tell Raph.”

“She didn’t do anything. I’m just edgy.”

“I can see that,” Sandy agrees, still typing on his phone.

“But better let your brother work his magic. You never know.” What he means is let him fire the intern, not kill her.

Sandy doesn’t know about the family side business.

He's an amazing assistant and an incredible person; he can’t be mixed up with that dangerous part of our lives.

“You really don’t need to involve Raph. That intern was just curious about my study.” I’m about to take a sip from my mug when the sight of a red package on the desk near the window stops me. Where did that come from? Is it the dildo I ordered? That was fast.

Sandy is talking on the phone with the HR department as I grab the box cutter and go to the desk to slice the tape before opening the cardboard flaps.

As soon as I look inside, I know I’ve made a mistake.

A pair of metal cuffs and a picture of me with my eyes burned out are on a bed of black rose petals.

There’s also a torn piece of paper that says: You can’t run from me anymore.

“Sari, what’s wrong?” Sandy’s voice sounds far away, even though he’s next to me. He looks down at the package and curses loudly. “Don’t touch anything. Don’t even look at it. Sari?”

His voice sounds muffled now as the thoughts in my head keep piling up. Why now? Why me? What should I do? What do they want from me? Who are they? Do I know them? Why? How?

I can’t breathe. I’m hyperventilating. My palms are sweating profusely. I’m…I’m having a panic attack.

I need to…cup my hands and…breathe into them slowly. I look at them, but I can’t feel my fingers or my toes. Everything is blurry. I can’t see. There’s not enough air. Not enough air . I have no control over my body. I feel like I’m slowly dying. This is the end. I can’t-can’t breathe .

“Baby Blue. I’m here.” His gravelly, soothing voice suddenly makes its way inside my scattered brain. Uri.

I need you, Uri , I want to say, but my lips don’t move. My body is not listening.

I feel my lips being forced apart and then air being blown into my mouth, forced into my lungs.

“Take it. Just like this. You’re doing great,” he keeps whispering encouragement between exchanges of air.

I eagerly accept the breath of life he’s offering me as he places his mouth tightly on top of mine over and over again to inflate my lungs. Until I finally breathe again by myself.

I don’t know how much time has passed, but I am starting to see things clearly now. Uri is making soft, shushing sounds right next to my ear as I find myself on his lap, on the couch in Raph’s office. I’m shaking. I can’t seem to stop. My lips are parted around fast, short breaths.

“U-Uri?” I can finally utter.

His warm hand cups my cheek as he shifts us slightly to let our eyes meet.

“I’m here. I won’t let you go, Baby Blue.”

His soft murmurs, familiar scent, and steely arm wrapped tightly around my waist are the only things anchoring me to reality. Like he is all that is holding me together right now.

“Breathe out slowly.” His commanding eyes hold my gaze intently as I do as he says. “Now inhale.”

He grabs my trembling hand and holds it firmly in his, our scars pressing against each other. “Now again. Out. In.”

I blink a few times, tears are welling as my heart fills with gratitude and love, so much love it could explode. I want to thank him for being here for me when I needed. I want to do the same for him. I want Uri closer. I want, I want, I want him.

“If with my life or death I can protect you, I will.” I hear him say, his warm lips brushing my ear.

I move back to look at his resolute expression. Some dreads have fallen out of his bun, and with a still shaky hand, I tuck one behind his ear. He lets out a long sigh before his forehead falls on mine. Our lips are almost touching when I hear Raph’s menacing voice.

“So we know how the package got inside my building. But what I want is that guard here in my office, on his fucking knees!”

I turn to look at him. He’s on the phone. Michael is next to him, worried eyes watching me.

“I checked with HR; his shift ended thirty minutes ago. Alright, let me know when you have him.” He hangs up and addresses Uri, “Hunter is going to pick up and bring to the base the guard who was bribed to bring in the package—Rami found out a large deposit was made on the guard’s account.

Hopefully we’ll get some answers. Rami is on his way here. ”

“You need to up your surveillance and check every person who comes in and out of the building.” Uri sounds like he’s barely controlling himself.

“Already on it,” Raph replies between gritted teeth.

“How do you feel, Sari? I have some water for you,” Michael says, taking a step toward me with the bottle in hand. Uri tightens his hold, pulling me harder against his chest as Michael stops a couple of feet away from us.

“I feel better already.” I try to give him a smile, and I seem to be successful since Michael nods at me.

He doesn’t come any closer but stretches his arm as much as he can to hand me the water.

Uri doesn’t loosen his grip on me, which makes the whole bottle exchange slightly difficult. But after a couple of tries, I get it.

“Nobody will touch you, Sari. We won’t let them.” Raph makes the compelling statement. He isn’t looking at me but at a growling Uri, like he’s talking more to him than me.

I’m still shaken up and scared to my bones. But I know I’m not alone. I have my whole family behind me. In front of me. All around me.

Hours later, I’m at the lake house. Uri carried me out of the office, holding me in his arms as he waltzed me out of the building.

For once, I didn’t mind his manhandling and overprotective ways.

I thought this stalker was just a pervert with a harmless fixation and that my lab was a safe place.

But I was wrong on both counts. The idea of having someone this twisted able to get inside a private area of my life is really frightening.

Rami and Michael took care of the package.

Like before, there were no prints. The picture with my eyes burned out was printed from my public profile on the Bear-Stone Labs website and the metal cuffs are a cheap magician prop sold by different websites and shops around Chicago.

The note was written with the same old typewriter again.

I was counting on getting some answers from the guard who brought the package inside the building, but the police found him in the bathroom of a diner a couple of blocks away from work.

It looked like he’d had a heart attack. Perhaps too much of a coincidence.

Rami redirected the corpse to a hospital where the medical examiner owes Gabe a favor; they will perform a thorough autopsy on the corpse—under Michael’s watchful eyes—and keep us posted.

If our suspicions are right, my stalker just escalated to murder. The thought sends a chill down my spine. Uri’s lips instantly land on my head, warm and comforting, as his arm wraps more tightly around my shoulder, his gaze still locked on the television.