Page 45

SARIEL

They caught my stalker. They caught my stalker. They caught my stalker. The statement keeps echoing inside my head as I enter the restaurant on hesitant feet. Only one bodyguard outside today since I’m with the others, and life keeps going.

I stayed shut away in the lake house, too scared to go outside, for almost a week.

I dove into my work. I took the cowardly way out again—so much for not being the weak link in this family.

But the memory of those lifeless, innocent birds almost triggered other panic attacks while the sensation of feeling exposed hasn’t faded away.

It took only a day for Rami to find out who the stalker was.

Two weeks prior to my lecture, new CCTV cameras were set up all over campus and also in the faculty lounge after two students from that university were found beaten and raped near Chicago.

Nobody knew about the new security except for the dean of the university and his assistant, Dr. Dench.

Rami found out about it when he hacked their emails to help Hunter who’s working on the case with the police.

Margaret Smith. That’s her name. My stalker was an intern working at Bear-Stone Labs, the same intern that Sandy kicked out of my lab more than a week ago. I shiver at the thought, now seeing that encounter in a completely different, dangerous, and creepy light.

Rami got her on the security footage entering the faculty lounge at the University of Illinois with that box in her hands thirty minutes before my lecture.

After that, it was easy for Serena to locate her through facial recognition in the vicinity of all the places where the stalker left a package in the last month.

After a very thorough background check, Rami discovered that she was also working as a volunteer in an emergency room.

That is how she got a hold of the muscle relaxant that killed the guard, which is usually used in hospitals to relax the respiratory muscles before intubating patients.

She was at my lecture that day, and the timeline on the footage confirmed she left the box in the lounge before going to the lecture hall.

After that, she didn’t come to work again.

The address she’d given Bear-Stone Labs HR was bogus, but my brothers managed to find her after four days.

They got her outside my apartment building and took her to the base.

I went too. I didn’t want to kill her, just maybe find out why she was so obsessed with me.

That’s when I discovered my family kept crucial information from me.

I was sent another package before, which contained a ball gag with a hair that led them to Francis Moreland’s kidnapping. I finally comprehended why Uri didn’t like the idea of me going to the university alone that day and his strong insistence regarding the four bodyguards.

The fact that he, that all of them didn’t share such important information upsets me deeply.

Lori, Michael, and Ollie wanted to tell me, but as usual, the rest decided to treat me like a kid.

And Uri… Panic attacks or not, I deserved to know.

We’ve been arguing for two days straight now.

I’m tired of being kept in the dark. I’ll continue feeling pushed aside, defenseless, and powerless like this.

Which I’m not. I can protect myself. There’s a reason I am part of this family.

I might not be as bloodthirsty and ruthless as my brothers, but I’m strong and determined. And I have the highest IQ.

I was ready to show Uri how forceful I can be, but he didn’t try to stop me from seeing Margaret when I arrived at the base.

Even though I quickly found out she suffers from obsessive love disorder, a condition in which one person feels an overwhelming desire to possess another—in this case me—and inability to accept rejection.

Michael also talked about delusional and borderline personality disorders, while Raph called her a Fatal Attraction sicko bitch after Margaret expressed her desire to kill me and herself.

Uri telling her he is my boyfriend only made it worse.

She had to die, I know that. She killed one man and kidnapped another—that we know of. But I just couldn’t watch as Uri took care of it. It’s still scary to think how easily she managed to get close to me and how, even though she made me feel slightly uneasy, I didn’t feel in danger near her.

This whole predicament left a permanent chill inside my bones. Like I have eyes on me everywhere I go. The fact that I’ve been arguing with Uri doesn’t help. Getting out of the lake house was my way of letting go of all those dark, clingy feelings.

I’ve just arrived at one of Uri’s restaurants to help prepare for Sully's going away party which will coincide with his birthday. He’ll leave in two weeks for college, and Lori wants to celebrate both occasions.

I don’t see Lori or Ollie anywhere, though.

But the restaurant door is unlocked, and I can see boxes on the floor with party decorations.

They must be somewhere. Maybe in the back.

“You shouldn’t be here! This was supposed to be a surprise,” I hear Lori whining a moment before the swinging kitchen doors part.

“You and my brother talked about it at home while I was there. Plus, I saw the balloons in Brad’s car when he picked me up the other day and my twentieth birthday is coming up soon,” Sully replies with a snorting laugh, showing his crooked incisor—I haven’t seen much of in the last months.

His eyes, one brown, one light green, are shining with mirth.

His glasses are a bit askew on his long nose, which reminds me of his clumsiness.

I’ve never met a person more unaware of his body and his surroundings than Sully.

“You bloody eavesdropper, and your bestie, Brad is a himbo.” Lori lets go of the door, which swings back, hitting Sully in his lanky chest.

“Oomph!” he gasps.

“You okay?” I ask him.

He raises his hand in a placating gesture. “Yes.”

“ He is okay, but I’m not!” Lori states, all bratty like. “Mr. Cake Face here wasn’t supposed to know about the surprise going away/birthday party for him. I’m so bloody pissed.”

“I’m touched, really. But this wasn’t necessary.” Sully moves toward the bathroom, followed by an annoyed Lori. I go too, since I need to wash my hands.

“Exactly my point, Sully-doo. You wouldn’t have expected a party for both, and I wanted to see the elation, the joy, and gratefulness in your teary eyes when you saw us all gathered to surprise you.”

“Isn’t it the thought that counts?” I hazard, as we enter the large bathroom.

Sully’s untied shoe makes him trip, he stumbles and barely finds his balance again, gripping the teal counter near the sinks.

Lori crouches down to tie Sully’s shoe. “Please, that’s just something people say to be nice, like size doesn’t matter, or I’m on a diet, or you look fabulous in that speedo. Ugh!”

“Is this bitch act going to go on much longer? I thought the point was to make me elated.” Sully disappears inside one of the stalls, banging the door behind him, as I move toward the first sink on the right.

“Ungrateful imp!” Lori stops near me to fix the black eyeliner at the corner of his eye.

“Let’s just get started.” I dry my hands on the small champagne towel—this place is really posh. “Where’s Ollie?”

“In the kitchen with the chef. You should leave your coat at the entrance.” He waves at my white Chesterfield coat before letting out a high-pitched shriek. He frantically jumps behind me and yanks my body in front of him as a shield.

“What the hell is happening?” I hear Sully from inside the stall.

I can’t reply. Lori is acting like a drowning cat, trembling and clawing at my clothes. I wince when he jerks me back, almost making me lose my balance and topple over with his leg hooked around my waist and arms almost strangling me.

I’m not at my best. My body is stiff and exhausted.

The fight with Uri over the last two days has intermittent, erotic pauses, in which he tried to affirm his dominance over me with his hands and mouth and dick.

My body is covered in his marks, and my hole has been pummeled and filled and forced open more times than I can count.

I did submit to him; it’s almost against my nature not to, but I didn’t let him win since we are still arguing.

Now Lori’s crazy, manhandling maneuvers are not helping with the physical aches.

“A demon!” Lori screams in my left ear, turning it deaf. “Hideous creature, stay away!”

His polished green nail is pointing somewhere around the long, rectangular mirror hanging over the sinks. I narrow my eyes as I see something black moving along the sharp edge.

“You mean the spider?”

“Don’t kill it!” I hear Sully’s voice from the stall.

“Don’t care about your Steve Irwin oath!” Lori hisses, forming a cross with his index fingers to point them at the spider. “It’s a mutant creature. He’ll bite me, but instead of turning into Spider-Man, I’ll become an incubator for his slimy, rotten eggs.”

“I’m feeling sick,” I murmur, as Sully comes out, running an exasperated hand through his dark hair.

“It’s the size of a nickel,” Sully scolds him, lifting the piece of toilet paper he’s holding.

“I’ll just die of fright then. No biggie, you tosser!” Lori keeps complaining. “I’ve got goosebumps all over me.”

“It’s called horripilation, the bristling from fear or cold. The adrenaline stimulates your tiny muscles to pull on the roots of your hairs, making them stand out from your skin. That distorts the skin, causing bumps to form,” I try to distract him.

Sully nods as he finally catches the spider in the toilet paper. “Charles Darwin once investigated goose bumps by scaring zoo animals with a stuffed snake.”

“Don’t try to razzle-dazzle me with useless facts; action counts. Let’s put the fun in funeral and flush the eight-eyed monster down the toilet!”

“How is that fun?” Sully asks with a serious expression.