Page 107 of Wicked Roses
She went into my office.
“I know you. I know how obsessed you are with your career. You’ve been that way since you were a teenager. You were the same about school.”
“You didn’t seem surprised about my mother passing away.”
“You forget she was a well-known dancer, wife of the former DA? I heard about it. It was on the newsandin the paper when she was murdered.”
“When I told you about my engagement, you said my fiancé was a prick. You were so sure about it. Like you knew who he was.”
I shrug. “I think all the men you date are pricks by default.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you? Then can you explain what these photos are?”
She brandishes a handful of them. Different ones from different points in time. Her law school graduation. Her giving a speech at a charity gala. Her on the steps of city hall. Photographs I had taken of her by whomever was her security detail in the moment.
There’s hundreds more in a folder on my laptop. On my phone.
I’ve done nothing nefarious with them. They were for my own records. The only connection I had to her in these many years we’ve been apart. I’ve tracked her every moment for safety purposes, but also for selfish reasons too. These photos became trophies, like my collection of her panties.
I collected thembecauseshe’s the only living, breathing human I give a damn about. Since I was banished from her life, it was the only way I could satisfy my obsessive urges.
But Delphine doesn’t see the situation that way. She sees them more as signs I’m controlling. I don’t deny I am where she’s concerned. I’m territorial and intrusive. I have to be when the world keeps us apart. She belongs to me, and my infatuation won’t let me lose sight of that.
“Can you?” she presses when a moment passes and I say nothing. “Jon, what is this? Have you been spying on me all this time? You’ve been... you’ve been keeping tabs on mefor years?”
I stare at the top photo in the stack for a couple more seconds—the photo of her giving a speech in a sparkling evening gown, beautiful and glowing—and I decide how I want to play this. I can either come clean or come up with a fake explanation.
What use is there lying? Denying what’s the truth?
I’ve never pretended to be anything but the violent, obsessive psycho I am. Delphine has fallen for the man I am, even if she doesn’t realize what she’s gotten herself into half the time.
“Stitches was right,” I say plainly. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you. Making sure you’re okay. Following what you’re up to. But it was for your benefit too. I’ve kept you safe.”
Delphine makes a sound of disgust and jumps up from the sofa. “I can’t believe you! You really expect me to believe this is for my own good? Are you that twisted in the head?!”
Yes...
“Do you not understand how... how disturbing this is?” she asks, shaking the photos. “Salvatore, you’ve beenstalkingme for years!”
“I was making sure you were okay.”
A sardonic laugh bubbles out of her. “Is that what you told yourself? Is that how you justified it? I thought you had matured. But you’re still the same control freak you’ve always been—you’ve just gotten better at hiding it!”
“It’s not what I’ve told myself. It’s the truth! I’ve been looking out for you.”
“Who says I needed you to? You had no right to make that decision for me!”
I stand up from the sofa as a rush of anger hits me, igniting my temper. “It was well within my right if it meant protecting you. You have no clue the level of danger you’ve been in—the number of threats waged against you. ThreatsIintercepted for years! You strut around the city thinking you’re tough shit. Ever wonder why you’re so untouchable?”
“I’ve never wanted to be affiliated with the mafia! Yet you’ve been providing me protection for years? Do you understand the violation of trust? Of privacy?” she shouts, pacing up and down the living room. “What else have you been spying on? Are there cameras in my home? Have you and your men been watching me when I’m alone?”
“Seriously? Phi, I’ve never had anything installed inside your home. Do you think I’d want my guys to see you in those kind of private moments?”
“I don’t know. You tell me! You’ve had them watching every other move I make, like some fucked up stalker reality TV show!”
“Will you calm down? Will you try to see it from my perspective? You told me you didn’t want to see me anymore. If I kept in touch, your father would’ve continued trying his damnedest to keep us apart. I’d fight him back. Then we’d be in the same situation that made us break up. I kept my word—I stayed away from you.”
She stares at me with alarm, her expression tight. “You really think you were justified. You don’t see anything wrong?”