Take a Breath(40)

As he grabs my hand and pulls me up, he places me into his waiting arms and wraps them tightly around me. I bury my head in his chest and inhale his scent. It’s the same sexy, beautiful, sweet Jake smell that I know and love so much.

“You smell so good, Ana. You’re mine.”

I close my eyes and sigh, “All yours, Jake.”





Chapter 15




After jumping in the shower—while Jake was downstairs making a late lunch—I walked through to my room to find something else to wear. I’m grinning from ear to ear. I have never been so happy, so content as I am now. I sit on the bed towel drying my hair when I notice something in the corner of my eye. I look round and on my pillow, is a note. Confused I pick it up to read it.

‘My beautiful English Rose, Soon you will be mine.’

I smile at the note. It’s a bit of a strange thing for Jake to write. I already am his and he knows it. He tells me often enough.

I quickly slip into a dress and make my way downstairs with the piece of paper. I stop in my tracks as I see Jake with only a pair of shorts on, cutting into some sandwiches. I’m blown away by the sheer statuesque beauty of this man, that I’ve completely forgotten what I was there for.

He looks up and smiles. “What’s that you got in your hand?” he asks.

My face crinkled at his statement. “As if you don’t already know. What do you mean, soon you will be mine?”

He froze. “What are you talking about, Ana? What is that piece of paper?”

I was rooted to the spot as he came over to me and whipped it out of my hand.

“You didn’t write this?” I ask, shocked.

Jake puts the note down quickly and rushes to the phone. “Where did you find this?”

I’m fixed to the spot, my eyes practically bulging by now.

“Ana, where did you find this note?”

My whole body frozen I somehow manage to speak. “It was on my pillow in my bedroom.”

He starts frantically dialling a number, his body rigid with anger as I’m trying to gather my thoughts around what the hell is going on. Very soon after I hear him speak.

“Michael, you need to get your ass down here now with a forensics team. He left Ana a note on her fucking bed. He was in my house.” He paused for a moment and then said, “Yes, I’m fucking sure. You better let Agent Marcos know, too. He may want to pay us a visit.” Another pause. “I’ll see you soon.” With that he hung up.

He comes rushing over to me where I’m still rooted. I can’t move as some sort of realisation kicks in. Someone has been in our house and left a note on my bed. How the hell did they get in, and who was it?

“Ana, come and sit down.”

He moves me over to the kitchen island and sets me down. I snap out of it enough to ask Jake what in the hell was going on. He puts his hands through his hair and rubs his eyes. He looks suddenly exhausted as he begins to tell me the story of what’s been happening.

“A couple of weeks back at the last murder scene we attended, the Blonde Killer left a note.”

I start shaking as it suddenly dawns on me what he was about to say.

“It said, ‘She is not my English Rose.’

At the time we didn’t know what to think and thought it a strange coincidence that in this area we had someone hunting blonde, blue eyed girls, who seemed to have an obsession with a blonde, blue eyed English woman. It was then we began shutting you out and searching for how many English, blonde women there are in this area. I would have given the case to Jessie to take over, but I felt she would never be able to keep this from you—seeing how you both seem so close. I also wanted to be sure first before I approached you with the information. Now it seems certain that you are his obsession.”

Jake grabs my shaking hand as I try and wrap my head around this information. Who is this Psycho and what does he want with me?

“Ana, look at me, please.”

I look up at his eyes as tears are threatening to sting my own.

“After the scene at the bar I asked Michael to check that asshole out that grabbed you. Turns out he is an Investment Broker a couple of blocks from the station and married with a kid would you believe. We tailed him for a while but realised it wasn’t him when we traced his whereabouts on the dates of the murders and found that he had been on business trips in Florida and New York, when three of the murders took place.”

He sighed and trailed his hand down my face.

“Ana, I’m so sorry that I kept this from you, but can you think of anyone who has been acting suspicious around you lately, or noticed anyone acting strange?”

A tear runs down my face as I try to think over the past few weeks. I shake my head.