Page 21 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“Great. Another standing ovation, the audience loved it.” Dante replied, sounding at ease for the first time in their conversation.

“That’s good,” Matt said as he opened up the email and started glancing over it. “Madi said the shows are all sold-” he stopped speaking, too shocked at the words on the screen.

“Hello?” Dante called. “Hey, are you still there?”

Matt blinked slowly. Growing rage and the desire to wring someone’s neck bubbled inside him as he asked tersely, “When did Madi start receiving these emails?”

“On the 18th.” Dante responded, once again sounding tense. “And they keep getting worse. The last one made me nervous.”

Matt quickly scrolled down to the bottom of the email and scanned the words. It was sickening…and downright threatening. This could not be allowed to continue. “Thank you for notifying me of this,” Matt said, his tone dark as he started thinking of the next steps needed in order to resolve this problem. “I will ensure something is done about it.”

Dante let out an audible sigh of relief. “Good. That’s good. Madi doesn’t think it’s anything, she might be right. It could just be some nutter with too much time on their hands…just, just make it stop if you can.”

Matt could hear the nervousness in Palmer’s voice, he himself felt a touch of anxiety at the level of hate directed at his poppet in the emails.

“Consider it done.” Matt replied.

“Good.” Dante cleared his throat. “Uh, and can we keep this between ourselves? Madi will kick my ass if she knew I came to you with this.”

“I won’t mention it,” Matt agreed. “And send me any further emails that she receives.”

“Will do. Merry Christmas, by the way.”

“The same to you.” Matt replied, wanting to end the conversation now.

“You will fix this, right?” Dante asked. “Because technically it’s your fault she’s in the spotlight like this. If she wasn’t with you this wouldn’t be happening.”

There were a number of cutting things Matt could say in response to Dante’s harsh words. He held his tongue though. Palmer was right. Being in a relationship with him had stolen all obscurity away from Madi.

“I’ll fix it. Goodbye” Matt grated out before ending the call. He uttered a foul curse and started reading the emails from the beginning. Half an hour later he made a call to the investigator he was paying to monitor the Kincaid situation. It didn’t matter it was Christmas morning. The remuneration package for his services meant the investigator would do as asked when asked.

“Bradley here. I need you to look into something for me.” Matt said immediately when the call picked up.

“Of course, sir.”

“I’ve just sent you some emails. I want you to find out exactly who the originator is and from where it was sent.”

“Yes, Mr Bradley. Is that all?”

“No,” Matt said, jaw clenching in anger. “But we’ll discuss the next steps once you have the information. Get it done. Now.”

“I will.”

Matt hung up the phone and begun to pace. The threat of promised violence in the last email had indeed been worrying and even though a part of Matt knew it was probably some unknown wanker trying to scare her, he did not want to make the mistake of discrediting the seriousness of this development. Palmer was right. The tone of the emails had gotten very menacing, very fast. Another expletive exploded from his lips as dialled another number on his mobile.Why hadn’t she mentioned itto him?Matt fumed silently as he waited for the other party to pick up.

“This is Matthew Bradley.” he said as soon as someone answered. “I want to speak to Jonas. Now.”

“Please hold, Mr Bradley.” A pleasant female voice advised.

Moments later the emotionless voice of Jonas echoed down the line. “Mr Bradley, what can I do for you?”

“Jonas, I need you to expedite my request concerning MadisonDuMont.”

There was some rustling of papers in the background before Jonas responded slowly, “The man selected for the job is still out of the country. We did agree he would start the position in the new year, January 30th, to be precise.”

Matt didn’t say anything. He let his silence speak for him.

“When would you like him to start, Mr Bradley?” Jonas asked after the loaded pause.

---