Page 3 of Protecting Vera

The one thing that convinced her Logan had set the fire was her car being totaled. He knew the location of her parking spot. No one else would have targeted her car. The cops didn’t seem to think it had anything to do with her, so she’d decided not to tell them anything about Logan. She figured they would just turn around and blame her for the fire like they’d tried to do with being tied to the tree in the woods.

This had to be her last week of living in the hotel. Seven days after the fire was long enough, and the insurance company had agreed to pay. She would have money deposited into her account in less than a month, and she could buy a car in California.

Was California really where she wanted to live? She needed to think about it. Maybe she could just stay in Texas. What if she was being paranoid? The fire could have been a coincidence. She reached up and touched her hair. That wasn’t a coincidence. Logan had chopped off her long, curly brown hair and then tied her to that tree. What would he do next?

She’d been stuck at the hotel, not even going out for dinner, for way too long. She needed to get out and talk to someone other than people from work or she would lose her mind. No one at work knew her apartment had burned down, and she guessed that was okay, but a part of her wanted to tell someone. The bar across the street wasn’t the place to drop the news that her place had burned down, but it did seem like a good place to get something to eat. After finishing her emails, she headed out, ready to get some fresh air and clear her head. Being cooped up wasn’t good for her.

She ordered a glass of wine and a salad with shrimp. Since the fire, she hadn’t really worked out or eaten healthy. Not that she was into organic or clean eating like some people she knew, but she did appreciate eating vegetables.

It sucked that her place had burned. She would have to buy everything new. She enjoyed shopping as much as the next woman, but the thought of having to restock her entire apartment depressed her.

She took another sip of wine, wondering if she was overthinking everything. Was it ridiculous to run away to California? She could spend the next few days looking for an apartment in Austin. She had almost convinced herself to stay in Texas when the door to the restaurant opened, and Logan waltzed in. His gaze landed on her, and his lips turned up in an evil grin.

Her blood seemed to freeze, and breathing became difficult. How had he known where she was eating? Did he have someone watching the hotel? That had to be it. She had to leave, but if he had someone watching her, he would know where she’d gone. She needed a way to get out of town that wouldn’t alert him that she’d left.

She signaled the waitress for the check but learned Logan had already paid for her meal. That scared the shit out of her. The man would never leave her alone. She had to get free, or she would die because of him.

It wasclose to bedtime when Hop’s phone rang. He saw it was Frizz. The woman Frizz had told him about hadn’t shown up yet, but maybe this was his sister telling him she wasn’t going to come to California.

“Hey, Frizz. What’s up?”

“My friend, she doesn’t know how to escape without being tracked. She’s been holed up in a hotel for the last week after the fire, then last night, she finally left the hotel to go eat at the restaurant across the street. Her ex showed up. How can she get away without him knowing she’s in California?”

Hop thought about her words, trying to digest everything. “Fire, what fire?”

“Her apartment building burned down. She is sure it was him because the person also torched her car.”

Worry for his sister exploded. “She’s not with you, right?”

“No, she won’t come to see me. Says she doesn’t want Logan to know we’re friends. Logan might know I exist, but he hasn’t ever met me.”

“Okay, um, let me think. Send me the details of where she is, and then everything you know about him. It might be tomorrow afternoon or later before I get back to you. Just tell her to hang tight and stay inside the hotel.”

“Thank you. I’ll tell her.”

“Stay safe, Frizz. I need you to stay alive.”

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you, bye.”

The email from Frizz came through, and he read the details. He grabbed his computer, searching for information on the guy. The dude seemed average at best. His father had money, but it wasn’t crazy money like people here in California.

Hop switched to another site he used to search for information and found that the guy had no arrest records, which surprised him. He wondered if his daddy had the police in his pocket. Probably.

He needed to come up with a way for Vera to get out of town without being tracked. This man seemed to know people in the small town where they lived and used his connections to create havoc and chaos.

He needed sleep, so he turned off everything and headed to bed, letting his mind work on the problem during the night. The next morning after their workout, he was sitting at his desk, his mind going over everything when Trip came in, his eyes narrowed before he gave Hop a chin lift.

“You look worried.”

Hop shook his head. “No. I mean, kind of. My sister’s friend is having some issues. Her ex is causing problems. He burned down her apartment. This is after he abducted her and tied her up in the woods. She got free then, but the police didn’t believe her. It’s one of those issues where the daddy is rich and the boy is worthless.”

“What are they asking you to do?”

“She wanted to leave town. She’s coming out here to live in my place until she gets her life together. But he keeps following her. She needs to get out of town without anyone knowing where she went.”

The rest of his team had come in and were standing around, listening to his problems. No one spoke for a long moment. He wasn’t sure they could figure it out. She might just be stuck with him knowing where she lived and have to deal with it.

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