* * *

Suspense was going to kill her one day. Regina knew it. Her whole life had been one mass of anxiety. Every day, day in day out. Nothing had changed. And now she was faced with this current mess.

Ben sent her the prospects for Fast Tech today. He actually sent someone from the company with it, as if to highlight the fact that he wanted to speed things along. Regina handed the documents over to Gilly, who added it to his file for investigation. Having the Fast Tech prospects meant that Ben would want an answer soon. It put a clock over her head.

She was home now, and glad to be alone. It meant she could do a little old-fashioned snooping around. Like what she did years ago after she discovered what Ben was like.

Regina made her way up to Ben's room. She'd never been inside and had no desire to view it until today. Before they started sleeping in separate rooms this room was mostly used for storage by the housekeeping staff.

When she moved Ben in here, he turned the room next to it into an office. She was hoping to have time to go through both rooms before he got back. That was if he came home. Some nights he didn't if he was with one of his women.

She opened the door and went in. Her eyes landed on the neatly made bed with dark brown bedding and the mahogany chest of drawers set that matched the wardrobes. She then looked at the desk in the corner with wooden pen holders of different sizes. Everything was so neat. Too neat.

She went over to it and started looking through the drawers. The first had stationery. The next, plain white envelopes and stamps. Boring stuff. She moved to the other side of the desk and found a small photo album with a brown leather cover. She picked it up recognizing it as a Christmas gift she'd given him when they were first married. Regina flicked through it and was surprised to find that it contained pictures of him and her when they were younger. It was when they'd just met, or rather when their parents introduced them.

She stopped at one picture in particular and gazed at it. She remembered the day well. It was their first date. She'd gone to it looking miserable because of the situation. Being forced to marry a man your parents picked tended to do that to you. Especially if you'd found true love with someone else. She'd gone to the date with a heavy heart, not wanting to exist anymore.

They had planned to meet at the local diner because it was casual and simple. Before that, she'd only met Ben once. She got there early and sat in the farthest booth so she could have some privacy to cry. Regina remembered how distraught she felt, lost in the world and conflicted because she'd always planned to marry for love. Her parents were already wealthy so she never thought she'd have to marry anyone to increase their wealth. She'd cried so much she shook. Then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. It was Ben.

He sat in front of her, reached out, and covered her shaking hands with his.

"I'm sorry," he'd said. She remembered the sincerity that filled his eyes. It was something she'd never forget. "I know this is hard for you, but I promise to take care of you and give you a good life."

She remembered the feeling of hope that filled her as he said that. She thought that just maybe things would work out. There wasn't anything she wouldn't have done for her parents, and she wanted to believe that they wouldn't have left her to marry someone who would mistreat her.

But, she'd been young and foolish. Naïve and easily manipulated. She believed Ben that day, and it turned out to be the worst mistake she'd ever made. That day she put her trust in him, and it shattered her heart when she found out what he was really like.

Her first taste of his true self was revealed when she first caught him cheating on her. She was pregnant at the time and devastated when she found him in bed with one of the maids. She'd wanted to leave, but he threw an even bigger threat at her. He told her he would destroy her parents if she left, and make sure she ended up on the streets begging for food with their child.

At the time she didn't have anything. There was no Runway, no other earnings or income of her own. Nothing. All she had was him, and unfortunately, that meant living under his dictatorship.

She thought he was despicable then, but that was nothing. It was just a mere sample of the monster.

Ben's true personality was revealed to her after Wade was born. His parents had given him control over one of their oil subsidiaries in Texas. It was the most successful in the cooperation.

To cut costs, Ben stopped all extra health and safety assessments, hired incompetent, unskilled managers, and, to add to it all, arranged a cheaper labor force of illegal South American immigrants whom he promised assistance to sort out their citizenship. He also promised to take care of their families in their respective countries if they worked for him for free. His greed resulted in a catastrophic explosion that took the lives of over a hundred men. Instead of owning up to his faults in the incident and the procedural mistakes he made, he lied and covered everything up. Ben falsified documents to make it look like he'd done all the recommended checks and hired a competent team. He then went on to deny all knowledge of the team being illegal immigrants, and to cover himself further he refused to fulfill his promise to care for the families of the men who died.

The whole thing devastated Regina to no end, and she was sad that she was so powerless. She'd found out by accident and kept the knowledge to herself, waiting for the day when she had enough power to achieve some form of justice. Regina didn't think there were any words on this earth to fully describe his wickedness. Ben treated those men as if they meant nothing. Like their lives were meaningless, or less important because of where they'd come from. Wives lost their husbands that day. Children lost their fathers, sisters their brothers, and mothers their sons. All for nothing, and to satisfy the greed of an evil man who wanted more wealth and power.

What was even worse was that the explosion could have been entirely avoided. Regina found out that none of the men working on the rig could speak English and all the manuals were in English. They all spoke Spanish.

The explosion was caused because, not only did they not know what they were doing, but when things got out of control they couldn't access what they needed in their own language to put it right.

That was the extent of what Benjamin Vanderville could do. All he did was destroy.

Regina put the album away and closed the drawer. It was best not to think about the past. It made her regret that she married him in the first place. She wished she could have been stronger to do what she wanted. She wished that she could have been selfish.

But soon she would be able to take matters into her own hands. Very soon.

Satisfied that there was nowhere left to look in the room, she proceeded to his office.

This room she'd been in many times. It was her that helped decorate it and organize it so he would be able to find things quickly. She hadn't, however, been in here for a long time.

Regina had very little to do with Ben at home, and after Wade left they barely spoke unless it was necessary. She went inside, stood by the entrance, and released a long sigh of frustration as she surveyed it. It would take days to go through this room. There were three filing cabinets, two shelves stacked with folders and document holders, and another desk that had drawers with suspension files.

She decided to tackle the desk first. Hopefully, she'd have time to finish looking through it. If she was lucky, this could be one of Ben's all-nighters and she'd have the whole night to look through whatever she wanted.

She moved over to the desk and searched the first three drawers. They proved to be as boring as the one in his room. However, as she was about to close the last, she noticed a medium-sized padded envelope underneath the back of the last suspended folder. It was tucked away, and she could have easily missed it.

Regina picked up the package and saw that it was folded over at the opening. She opened it and pulled out a wad of smaller envelopes and notes that had been folded to fit inside the larger padded one. She set them on the desk and unfolded one of the notes to read what was written on it. It simply said, I'm watching you.

Maybe it was from one of Ben's lady friends. He probably got notes like that all the time. She unfolded a few more and found that at least ten of them said the same thing, so she put them to one side. She then got to one that said, I wonder what you'd look like dead. I'd just love to find out.

That was when something gripped her insides. Her heart stilled in her chest as she looked at all the notes on the table. Now that she observed them and saw they were written by the same person an eerie thought pierced her mind.

Were these threats?

They certainly looked like threats. Especially that last one.

Was someone watching Ben, and sending him threatening messages? Honestly, it didn't surprise her. Only God knew how many enemies the man must have had.

With her heart pounding and hands shaking she started opening the smaller envelopes. The first one gripped her; it had a drawing of Ben in his office at work. Sitting on his desk in a very seductive manner was an image of his busty secretary blowing kisses at him.

The next letter, however, brought home the seriousness of the situation as she read it. It was written in dark red ink and stated, You shouldn't have so much sugar in your coffee, and your wife should wear the new lipstick she bought last week. It will match that dress she's wearing perfectly.

Taylor should take better care of her cat, and Wade needs better lighting in his room. It would be a shame for him to leave again when he's only just returned.

It was only after she read that that realization truly dawned on her and tore at her insides.

Regina gasped. This person wasn't just watching Ben. It was all of them. They were watching all of them, and this note was recent. As in a few days ago recent. Wade had only been home since Monday, and she bought that lipstick last week.

Cold terror gripped her in its icy embrace, and she could do nothing but stand there and stare at the note, paralyzed with fright.

Someone was watching them, and watching so closely that they knew how much sugar Ben put in his coffee.

God!

Were they watching her now? Could they see her?

She whirled around and looked around at the large casement window behind her. Maybe they could see her in here. Maybe they had cameras set up inside the house.

She looked back to the note to read it again, and noticed how the letters on some of the words smudged out. That was when it occurred to her that it wasn't written in red ink.

It was…

Blood!

She screamed and dropped the letter, holding her hands out.

"It's rabbit's blood," Ben's voice suddenly sounded at the door.

She whipped her head up to glare at him. He stood at the door watching her with discomfort.

"It's rabbit's blood," he repeated, coming in. "I had it checked out already. Regina, what are you doing in here?"

"What is this Ben?" She pointed to the pile of notes and letters scattered across his desk. "What is going on?"

He walked in, put his briefcase down, and moved over to her. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Bastard, tell me what the fuck this is." Normally she would keep her cool around him, but this wasn't normal. They'd never had this. "Someone is watching the house, watching us, Wade and Taylor."

"Regina, things like this always happen. I'm a public figure, and we have a wealthy family. There's a lot of psychos out there who just talk to scare people."

"That note is written in blood, Ben."

He pulled in a breath and bore into her with those steely eyes.

"It's being taken care of by people who are skilled to deal with situations like this."

"The police? I hope that's who you mean." She folded her arms under her chest and glared at him. Ben had his people. He had someone for everything, and none of them had ever been the correct people.

"I'm not going to get the police involved."

"Jesus. Ben, what is the matter with you? Is there no part of you that can ever do the right thing? And why didn't you tell me? You could have given me a heads up that we might be in danger. The average person doesn't write a note in blood." She didn't care that it was rabbit’s blood, it was blood all the same. No sane person did something like that. She was completely losing her cool now and freaking out at the thoughts that ravished her mind. This person could be anyone, and this was very serious.

"We aren't in danger," he said hurriedly and practically laughed off the thought.

"You don't think we're in danger?" She failed to see how he couldn't see this as danger.

"No, I don't."

A thought occurred to her. "Is this why you want Runway?"

He inclined his head and raised his brows. "Does that make any form of sense to you?"

"Nothing you do makes sense to me."

"Well, this is not just for me. It's for us."

"Us?" There had never been an us with him. Never. It was all about him.

"Of course. Putting all our assets together and working together is always a good thing. It works better for us both, and creates a better image to the people who use our services."

Image. If that was what owning Runway was about, it still didn't make sense. He didn't need to have an image in the fashion world. He was the state’s attorney.

"How long have you been getting the notes?" Back to the current, pressing problem.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is I'm dealing with it." That meant he'd been getting them for a long time.

Tears stung the back of her eyes and threatened to spill, but she wouldn't let him see her cry.

"The blood note was written this week. What do I tell Taylor and Wade?"

"What you always tell them, to be careful. There's no need to alarm them and yourself with things like this, which mean nothing."

She didn't know who he thought he was fooling. He forgot just how well she knew him. The fact that he hadn't involved the police told her everything she needed to know. It told her there was more to this debacle than what met the eye. It told her it involved something he wanted to keep off the books.

More secrets and things he wanted to keep within his control. That meant he'd done something bad again, and this was personal.