“What’s inside?” I peered up at Chase, my fingers lingering over the brown paper, strangely afraid to open it.
Afraid to reveal the truth.
Chase looked at me for a few seconds that seemed to stretch into an eternity, and I realized his good mood had been all pretense. He was worried and trying hard to hide it.
My fingers squeezed in at the corners and opened the flap of the envelope. But even before I pulled out the papers, I knew those were long-lens pictures of Chase and me, taken the previous day, as we exited the restaurant.
We looked happy…like a real couple. Laughing. Bodies pressed together to escape the evening chill. It would have been a nice snapshot, were it not for our faces circled with a red marker pen, giving the impression that we were a target.
Was someone targeting us?
But why? I had no money. Nothing anyone would want from me.
I shook my head, as though to sort through the thoughts inside my mind.
We had been followed. That in itself was scary as hell. Add a few photographs and the target sign, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk down the street without peering over my shoulder repeatedly for a long time.
“It’s a warning,” I whispered in shock as realization dawned on me. “But why would anyone want to send us a warning?”
“I have no idea.” Chase drew a sharp breath and his gray-blue eyes hardened into layers of ice. I had never seen anyone look so cold and composed, and for some reason it almost scared me more than the letter.
Maybe I didn’t know the man I was about to marry particularly well.
Maybe I didn’t know him at all.
The End…for now