Page 3 of Shadow Redemption
“Doesn’t mean one of his flunkies isn’t out for revenge on his behalf.”
Ruth shuddered.
“How did he or she get this picture?” The paper crinkled in Ben’s fist.
“Z’s working on it.”
If anyone could nail the leak, it was Zane Murphy, Fortress Security’s tech wizard and communications guru. “I thought he was trolling the Internet for these pictures and deleting them.”
A muscle in Maddox’s jaw twitched, a sure sign of his growing irritation with Ben’s questions or the edge in his voice. Probably both. “Ice it down, Martin.”
Ben looked at Ruth. “Is this the only threat?” When she didn’t respond, his suspicions rose. “Give us a minute, boss.”
An eyebrow rose. “This is my office.”
He glanced at Maddox. “Please.”
The CEO stood. “Make Zane’s job easier,” he murmured and walked out, closing the door behind himself.
Ben watched Ruth for a moment, willing the model to break her silence and look at him. But the woman was stubborn, a trait he’d praised her for in the past few months. When Torino tried to break her down, Ruth refused to cede any ground to the creep. Although she’d never admitted it, Ben knew she paid a heavy price for refusing to cooperate with Torino’s agenda. He hoped she shared the details with her counselor.
“Ruth, look at me.”
She turned her face away.
Alarmed, he stood, reached down, and drew the model to her feet. With a gentle touch, Ben cupped her chin and tilted her face toward his. The fear and defeat in her eyes gutted him. “Talk to me. You’ve had other threats, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’ve been gone. I didn’t want to distract you. Your work is dangerous and I didn’t know when you would return so I went to Brent. I knew he would help me.”
He slid his hands down to hers and squeezed, shocked at the icy feel of her skin. “I’m always available to you unless I’m in the middle of an active operation. If I am, I’ll call you as soon as I’m clear. You come to me if you’re in trouble, Ruth.” Ben didn’t want to look deeper into his own motives for insisting that she turn to him first.
“I thought I was doing so well, and look at me. A picture made me panic and run.”
“Hey, don’t do that. You have legitimate reasons to be afraid after what happened with Torino. Remember what I’ve repeated to you since you escaped from that creep?”
She nodded. “Always trust my instincts.”
“That’s what you did. Your instincts told you this was a real threat and you listened. Being embarrassed because you overreacted is better than ignoring the danger and suffering the consequences. Tell me what I need to know to help you.”
“I’ve been receiving email threats. Well, Roxanne has.”
Ben scowled. “You have an agent. Why aren’t your emails going through him?”
“They are, Ben, but he’s overworked and just glances through things, then forwards them on to me. He didn’t see these as threatening.”
“You need someone to vet your email. You must receive hundreds of messages a week from your adoring fans.”
Hurt flashed through her eyes at his acerbic comment. “There’s no point in hiring anyone.”
He blinked. “Why not?”
She waved his question aside. “It doesn’t matter. I just want the threats to stop.”
“Oh, they’re going to stop, all right. I’ll take care of it.” And her, he silently vowed. No way was anyone going to threaten Ruth Monihan and get away with it.