Page 52 of Bodyguard By Night

“He was when I was done with him,” Poe said without remorse.

Chaos gave a watery laugh. “I wish I could say the same. Anyway, I tried to tell him I wasn’t interested in anything too serious. I was a freshman, majoring in New Media and Business. To say I was buried in classes and projects was an understatement. At first, he was good with it and played the understanding card, but then he started showing up at all of my classes to see me before and after. Just a nice guy who wanted to make sure I got to all my classes safely, yada yada. Then he showed up at the library and the coffee shop when I went out with my friends.” She paused, opening her fist. The tissue she held was shredded. “Then he locked me in a classroom.”

My heartbeat was so loud in my head I could barely hear her voice.

“I was there late doing some group work and was the last to leave.” She didn’t seem to be in the room anymore. Her eyes had a faraway look to them. “He started yelling at me. Telling me how much he liked me. That I should be happy a girl like me had his attention.” Rough laughter tore from her chest. “That I should appreciate it.”

I dragged her chair toward me. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot with tears as she stared at me. She laid her hand over mine where it was clamped on her chair. “I’m okay.”

I nodded because I wasn’t sure I could speak right at that moment.

“I got lucky that time. My classmate came back to make sure I wasn’t alone. Jason cornered me a few more times and scared me enough that I finally ended up calling the campus police. That was useless. That’s when I found out just how rich Jason Grafton was.” She took a deep, shaky breath. “After that, my semester was hell. I got an order of protection, but it didn’t do any good. He was always watching, even if it was from across the quad.”

I glanced at Poe, then at Aidan. His jaw was clenched.

“He trashed my dorm room and my roommate asked for a room change.” She laughed. “A freshman with a room to herself, you would have thought it was a dream. Except he managed to get a key.”

“All right, that’s enough.” My voice was raw.

She reached over to grip my hand.

“It’s okay. I didn’t get hurt. He scared me, but I couldn’t get anyone to take me seriously. Even the cops couldn’t do anything because he didn’t physically harm me. Just liked to scare me. My parents were a wreck, and my sister was so scared for me. They wanted me to come home. There were tons of colleges in New York I could go to, but UC Berkley had always been a dream for me.”

“And then it was nightmare,” Poe said quietly.

“In Jason’s mind, I’d just give up and go out with him. In the end, he won anyway. I was flunking out because I couldn’t concentrate. The day I got the letter that I lost my scholarship, I just gave up. He won. I packed up all my things and rented a van when he was at one of his games and drove across country. I never saw him again.”

She pressed her lips together. “So, there you go. That’s everything.”

Aidan glanced at me and narrowed his eyes on our linked hands before zeroing in on Willow. “Thanks. I’m sure that was difficult, but your details filled in a few things we couldn’t pin down. You’re right, there was a lot of covering up because of his name. The Graftons give a lot of money to Berkley.”

“I guess that’s not shocking.” Chaos sighed.

“You have good instincts. You’re sure there’s nothing else?”

“I didn’t say anything because I knew Jason wasn’t doing this. I’m just sorry I didn’t fight harder, so all those women didn’t have to go through what I did.”

Poe’s fingers flew over the keys again. “I double-checked Jason’s whereabouts just to be sure. He’s too busy getting married to some bread princess.” She rolled her eyes as she did whatever it was that she did on her laptop. “The future missus has a sterling prenup, so I guess that’s as good as we’re getting with that.”

“What’s with the live feeds?” I needed to redirect the conversation before I lost my goddamn mind.

“That’s why I called you in.”

Chaos’s grip tightened.

Aidan swung around in his chair toward the screens. The smaller boxes grew larger, splitting the screen. “We found this in a dark web forum.”

“We?”Poe chimed in.

Aidan glanced over his shoulder. “Royal we.”

Poe did a little royal wave, but there was no laughter.

“That’s my apartment,” Chaos whispered.

“And the goddamn farm.” I got up out of my chair and started pacing. “Where did you find that? What kind of forum?”

“Evidently, it’s not just Willow they’re after. We’ve found a nest of people who look for inventive ways to stalk celebrities.”