Back in my room, I paced. My body was shaking uncontrollably, and try though I might, I couldn’t make it stop.

I walked over to the window in my bedroom and opened it a crack. I needed fresh air.

I shook out my hands and walked back to my bed, sitting down on the edge. I needed to get a grip. There had to be a logical solution for this.

Fear clawed through my body, every inch of it. What if I was to blame for this? What if it had to do with my work, or worse yet…

I shivered, resisting the urge to roll up into a ball. I was stronger than this, and fear would not control me. Not ever again.

I squared my shoulders and walked back downstairs. I knew I needed to tell Gabriel and Cox about her experiences at Penn even though I didn’t believe they had anything to do with this situation.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, rather than going straight to Gabriel’s office, I walked out to the backyard where Mackenzie and Fran were practicing.

“Okay, Mackenzie, practice those moves a few more times. I’m going to talk to Athena for a minute.”

“We call her Thea,” the little girl insisted.

Fran smiled and turned to walk over to Athena.

“Hi, I’m Fran.” She extended her hand.

“I’m Athena—they call me Thea, as it seems you’ve already been told.”

“She’s quite something isn’t she?” Fran chuckled. “How’s it going?” I asked, wrapping my arms tightly around my body.

“She’s doing really well,” Fran assured. “She’ll need you to be strong, Thea. Don’t let what we’re unsure of get to you.”

“I know.” I took a shaky breath. “I need to talk with Gabriel and Cox about some things. Do you think you can keep her busy for a bit longer?”

Fran’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. If there’s something they need to know, something that could endanger Mackenzie, you’d better let them know now.”

“That’s just it—I’m not sure, but I’ll let them decide if it matters or not.”

Fran visibly relaxed. “I’ll keep her busy until I see you or Gabriel come out to get her.” Fran turned back and walked toward Mackenzie, who twirled as she approached.

She’s the sweetest little one. Please let her be safe, I breathed as I walked back inside through the sliders and made my way to Gabriel’s office.

I heard voices murmuring through the door, and it was ajar. I was certain I’d closed it when I left, but maybe they’d come looking for me.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Both men were standing with their backs to me, the bookcase appeared to have shifted to the right and I saw a wall of screens. The security system.

Cox turned, and then Gabriel. I closed the door behind me and walked into the room. “I need to talk to you.” I clasped my hands together, my eyes moving from one man to the other.

Gabriel’s eyes followed my hands, and then he moved toward me, putting his hand on the small of my back and directing me to the couch and chairs at the other end of his office. I breathed a sigh of relief, somehow this felt less threatening.

“That’s your security system?” I asked.

He nodded, and Cox moved to join them. I stood, uncertain, but Gabriel and Cox simply waited for me to make a choice. I decided to take a chair. Gabriel moved to the other chair, nestled close to mine, and Cox moved to the center of the couch, facing us both with a low coffee table between us.

I felt the tremors starting, so I grasped the arms of the chair, desperate to find a way to quell it before it got out of control. Under normal circumstances, you’d think one of them would try to comfort me, but these were not normal circumstances, and these were not normal men. They watched me with the intensity of a hawk as though they could read my mind. My hand pressed against my stomach and I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried not to throw up.

Gabriel’s eyes were cold, assessing. But Cox’s seemed neutral.

I looked down at my hands. “When I was at Penn…” I bit my lower lip. “There was a situation.” I looked up, first at Gabriel, whose eyes burned into mine, and then at Cox, who nodded. I gave him an appreciative smile in thanks and took a deep breath.

“There was a guy—an annoying guy that I had no interest in—he would often come up to me at the library to sit near me, and he was in one of the psych classes I took. It all started with him asking me to study with him, meet him for coffee—simple things, but I always said no. He persisted. I thought it was nothing.” I starred off into space, my voice quiet.

“I started to notice him at different places, and at first I thought it was simply because I knew who he was now, but then it started to get creepy, and he went out of his way to sit behind me in class, and my gut told me it wasn’t a coincidence.”

I looked over at Gabriel, whose eyes now showed concern, and that was all I needed to continue. I couldn’t bear to think he was angry with me—or that anything I’d done could cause harm to Mackenzie.

I paused for several seconds, trying to will the tears to stay at bay, afraid I would lose it if I said another word.

“What happened, Thea?” Gabriel encouraged.

I crossed my arms, each hand grabbing the opposite bicep tightly, and pushed my elbows into my core, willing the shaking to stop. Could they see it? “I went to the admissions office and told them what was going on. They thought nothing of it and brushed me off, so I knew I needed to take matters into my own hands.”

Cox and Gabriel exchanged glances.

“Go on,” Gabriel said quietly.

I stood, my arms still hugging my core tightly as I moved to the far windows in Gabriel’s office.

“I confronted him.” The memory made me shudder. “I told him I was uncomfortable with the way he was behaving toward me, and that I didn’t appreciate him continuing to ask me out when I’d already told him the answer was no. I told him it would always be no. I was focused on my studies and that was it.”

I turned back toward the men, feeling the anger all over again and took a deep breath.

“But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He smiled at me.” I licked my lips. “But it wasn’t a normal smile—it was more like a sneer. He was probably three or four inches taller than I am. I was holding books in my hands, and he grabbed my face, hard, and then he started to kiss me.”

I grimaced, closing my eyes and shook my head to push the memory away. It had been a wet, disgusting, invasive kiss. “I’m sorry—you probably don’t need all these details. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the feeling I had when he was stalking me—that’s the feeling I had on Friday afternoon. You don’t… you don’t think he could have followed me here, do you?” Desperation threatened to overcome me, and my brow creased with worry all over again as I walked back toward the men, grasping the back of my chair for support.

Cox looked at Gabriel, then turned to Thea. “The details do matter, Thea, even though they may be difficult for you to recount. It helps Gabriel and me to understand if this person could be a threat to Mackenzie—or to you if indeed he could potentially have followed you here, and I’m not saying that he did. Gabriel is a specialist in human behavior, and every detail you remember may help immensely.”

Gabriel cast a grateful look toward Cox. “I do need all the details of what you went through, Thea. I want you to be as comfortable and open with us as you possibly can.”

“Tell us what happened after you confronted him, and he kissed you,” Cox encouraged.

I shook my head, letting a long, slow breath out through my lips. I walked back to the windows.

“Well, I brought my knee up into his crotch, where it would hurt most. He doubled over, and I turned and ran. When I got to the end of the library, I looked back, and he was just standing there staring at me—he looked furious—evil, even.”

I shook out my hands. “I will never forget the look in his eyes.” I paused for several seconds and began to pace, using my hands as I talked because it helped to calm me.

“Later that day I decided to go for a run like I usually did. I had this feeling I shouldn’t go.” I lifted my hands and linked them together, feeling my eyes narrow. “But it didn’t make any sense.” I turned back to the guys, looking for reassurance of some sort. But nada, so I continued.

“It was a beautiful day, I needed to run off some steam and stress from the encounter with him, but I ignored my gut.” I looked pointedly at both of them, hands on my hips. “I put on my running shoes, grabbed my iPhone, earbuds, and proceeded to my usual running route across the South Street Bridge. It was quiet as was typical for that time of day. I always ran with only one earbud in my ear, and I heard a car slow down behind me. I assumed they were stopping to look at something but then I realized that the car was following me. I turned to look at it, and that was when I realized it was him.”

I took a deep breath and turned back toward the window, my hands wrapped tightly around my middle. “I kept running, but I froze inside. I tried to quickly process the best course of action. There was no one around. So I just kept running at the same pace and ignored him. He pulled his car up just ahead of me and off to the side. His car door opened, and he walked toward me.” I turned back to the guys. “I realize now he was probably a sociopath—that look in his eyes—I’ve never seen anything like it.” I shook my head as the familiar wave of fear rush through my stomach, and I shuddered.

“He lunged for me—he was faster and stronger—but I was equally determined that he would not get me into his car. I fought—hard, but he was so strong…” One solitary tear began to make its way down my cheek and I angrily brushed it away. I couldn’t look at Gabriel or Cox—I’d never bared my soul like this to people I barely knew but I forged forward because this time it wasn’t just about me, it was about Mackenzie, too.

“What happened next?” Cox encouraged.

I tossed my head back and leaned against the wall next to the window, my arms still tight around my center.

“I jammed my elbow into his nose just as he was shoving me inside. He roared. He was so angry—but it was enough for me to pull away. At that same moment, a car came onto the bridge at the far end. It distracted him and I ran to the back of the car. He jumped into his car and drove off, quickly. The car coming toward me on the bridge stopped and rolled down their window. It was a guy. He just stared at me for a few seconds and then asked, ‘Are you okay?’ Clearly, he’d seen what just happened. I said, ‘I am, thanks to you.’ He asked me if I wanted a ride, and I said, ‘No offense, but I don’t know you.’ He just looked at me—he got it. He grabbed a business card from his dashboard and wrote his name and phone number down. He handed it to me and told me to call him if I needed anything. Then I turned around and ran back to campus on autopilot. I was shaking, and furiously angry, and had absolutely no idea what to do.”

“So what did you do?” Again, it was Cox asking.

“I called a good friend—a guy that I’d hung out with whom was in the law program at Penn. He went with me to the Dean, and they pulled this guy out of class. I never saw him again. I don’t know what happened to him—I don’t even know his name.”

Then I collapsed into the chair beside Gabriel. “It would be unlikely that he could track me here, right?” I asked hopefully, looking from Gabriel to Cox.

Cox started to speak, but Gabriel held up his hand. “Did you talk to anyone else about this?”

“You mean at Penn?” I asked Gabriel, confused. “I just told you I did.”

“No, I mean did you talk with anyone personally about this experience and how it impacted you?” His eyes locked with mine.

I inclined my head toward him and raised my eyebrows indignantly. “I did, actually. My friend in the law school—his family was from Philly and his mom was a therapist—I saw her for a few months. So, back to my question, how do we find out if someone is following Mackenzie—or me—and what do we do once we know? And if it isn’t someone following me…” I turned to Gabriel, “Who would have cause because of your work? Give that some thought,” I said as I rose. “Mackenzie has to be tired. I’m going to get a snack prepared for her, and we can continue this conversation when I’m done.”

I felt more like myself now it was all out in the open, and I was back in control.

“Sounds like a plan,” Gabriel agreed, his eyes holding mine before I broke contact and left the room.