The Heiress's Pregnancy Surprise (Heirs to an Empire 2)

HOW DARE YOU? BITCH.

She right-clicked on a tiny icon to download the picture, and then stepped back from the computer in shock.

There’d never been a picture before. And this one was so very personal.

“Jacob?” Her throat closed over and she called out again, the sound strangled. “Jacob?”

* * *

Jacob heard her calling from his room, and something in her voice put him on alert. He’d been sitting on the end of his bed, trying to sort through his thoughts and emotions after what just had—and hadn’t—happened in the kitchen. But her tone... Something was wrong. He got up and immediately went to her.

She was standing four feet away from her laptop, but even before he got to her he could see what was on her screen. A photo from today, her beautiful blue dress, and slash marks cut across it. And one right across her face.

He saw the words, too, as he moved closer. “‘How dare you?’ How dare you what?” He turned around to face her. The color had leached out of her face and she was shaking. “This is definitely an escalation from the other letters.”

“You think?” Her voice shook, but he sensed it was a small part fear and another part anger. “How dare I what? This is crazy.”

“But to add the slash marks... Whoever is sending the messages is furious with you, Charlotte. And this is the first time violence has been implied.”

“I know. I know.” She stood back and clenched her fists. “The original photo is on the internet, so it doesn’t mean whoever is behind it is here in New York.”

“It doesn’t mean they aren’t, either,” he reasoned. “But more than that for now, are you okay?”

She turned to him, her eyes blazing. “Oh, I’m fine. Now I’m not just annoyed, I’m angry.”

He chuckled a little, admiring her feistiness. “Just don’t let your anger make you foolish.”

“I won’t.”

“I need to send this off to your IT people.”

Her gaze snapped to his. “I’d rather my mother not know. She fusses enough as it is.”

He shifted on his feet, uncomfortable with that request. “I report to your mother.”

“Then I’m asking you to wait. Tell her at the end of the assignment, in whatever sort of debrief you have.” She gave a shrug.

He sighed. “That’s not the deal.”

“Please, Jacob. She’ll get upset and tell me to come home and this... This is my chance to really make a mark. Besides, I have you, right? I’ll be fine. After all, there’s no actual threat in the email.”

“You are a stubborn, stubborn woman.” He understood where she was coming from, but he had a job to do. “Listen, if you don’t want me to send it to your IT people, will you let me send it to mine?” He’d been hired only as private security, but he had his own people. Besides, he seriously doubted the Aurora IT department had the same skill set as his cybersecurity team.

She hesitated, which he took as a good sign. “You’ll send it there and keep Aurora out of it?”

He didn’t like lying to her, so he prevaricated a little. “Your team doesn’t need to know. And I’m sticking to you like glue from now on,” he added.

Which was just lovely, wasn’t it? Because he wanted to be close to her more than was proper. His thoughts had left proper behind ages ago.

“Then you’d better go get dressed. It’s a tuxedo night. We need to leave in an hour.”

He stared at her. “You can’t mean you’re still going to this party.”

“Of course I am.” She shut the lid on the laptop and put her hands on her hips. “I refuse to be intimidated. This is the biggest party of the week, far bigger than Aurora’s tomorrow night. I’m not missing it, even if I am tired.”

He shook his head. “Charlotte...”

“Don’t Charlotte me. Intimidating me is exactly what this person wants. Well, I’m not so easily intimidated. I’m going to go in there, put on my killer dress, and we’re going.” She reached out and put her hand on his arm, and he tried not to stiffen even though his body was saying danger! “Whoever is doing this? I don’t think they’re going to be at this party tonight. It’s very exclusive. And tomorrow there’ll be pictures and whoever it is can choke on them for all I care.”