“Twice in one day?” Stone asked. “Can’t get enough of me?”

“Maybe you should give up hacking and go into stand-up if you’re so fucking funny.”

Stone laughed. “No, I’d suck at it. But you give as good as you get. I like that. What’s up?”

“I need more information.”

“Since I’ve already got a date to meet the girl I’m interested in, I’m not sure what more you can offer me.”

Axel didn’t hesitate. “I’m her protector. She doesn’t say shit to anyone without my permission. If you want conversation, I suggest you help me.”

“You’re a sly bastard,” Stone groused.

“What’s it going to be?”

Stone cursed. “Tell me what you need.”

Axel smiled into the phone. “The hotel we discussed earlier? I need to see if you can hack into their security systems. I need camera footage of the top floor, leading to the room number you gave me. I also need to see if you can give me a list of everyone whose key card accessed the door to her room. We’re asking hotel security for these same records, but if someone on staff is involved, they could easily tamper with the evidence.”

“No sweat. Give me a few hours. It may not take that long. But I’ll give you some answers.”

“Thanks.”

“Hopefully, Sweet Pea will thank me on your behalf,” Stone said suggestively.

Axel rolled his eyes, and he realized that he didn’t mind another man touching the woman he’d shared scenes and sex with for the last two years. Across the room, Heath had his arm around Mystery, the woman he’d taken to bed exactly once, and Axel felt murderous.

He needed to get a fucking grip.

“Don’t hold your breath. Trust doesn’t come easy for Sweet Pea. She’s a kind soul and she’ll be polite as hell. I wouldn’t expect more than that for now.”

“You control who fucks her, too?”

Axel didn’t think Misty had been to bed with anyone else since they’d settled into their arrangement, but he could be wrong. And it wouldn’t bother him. As long as she found someone good to her, he was cool. “I’m not her pimp, asshole. I look out for her.”

“I don’t think that’s all you do to her, but I’ll put a lid on it, get you an answer, and call back soon.” Stone hung up.

Prick.

Axel watched across the room as Heath caressed Mystery’s back. She’d grown tense as she talked into the phone. She winced, shook her head, and looked like she fought back tears. Axel approached the two.

“Daddy, no. I’m fine,” she assured. “Between Axel and Heath, I’m perfectly safe. We’ll figure this out. I need to see Aunt Gail. I keep promising her I’ll come get some of these things Mom left for me, and I . . . just haven’t wanted to deal with it. She’s going on a mission trip in a few days, so it’s now or never. Besides, none of us ever knows how long we have left, and it’s been too many years since I spent time with her. I’ll be home soon.”

That perked Axel up. He remembered from Mystery’s bio information that her mother’s sister, Gail, was a spinster who lived in rural Kansas. Was that the reason Mystery had come to the States in the first place? If so, why had she stopped to spend a night or two in Dallas?

Heath gave her one more comforting pat, then sauntered his way. “I talked to the hotel’s security director. He said he’ll have the video feed and key card records for us by morning.”

“Morning? I was thinking more like an hour or two.”

“I was, as well,” Heath admitted. “Unfortunately, he says all those records are kept at a facility off-site, and they’re closed until tomorrow.”

Well, Stone would have answers much faster. Maybe he’d tell Heath that later. But until he trusted the guy, Axel refused to divulge much.

“So we’ll work around it for now. Did you call the police?”

“Hotel security said they would. They have a protocol for these things.” Heath clearly didn’t like the bureaucracy.

Axel seconded that. “We don’t need the red tape.”

“Exactly. But I suspect it’s a dead end, anyway. The police won’t know who left her that picture, and even if they could figure out the perpetrator’s identity, I’m sure it would be a greedy maid or a hired thug.”

Maybe. But someone far more nefarious had given the intruder that picture.

Axel paced. Joaquin couldn’t get to the bottom of Mystery’s past soon enough. He had to start figuring out who wanted to hurt her and why.

“You know, whoever left this picture for her tonight . . . what’s the motive? Why remind her of her abduction after all these years? Why now? What set this person off?” Heath asked.

Good question. “Well, judging from the message on the back, this person doesn’t want her on U.S. soil. She’s supposedly safer back in the UK. Has she encountered any threat there?”

“No.” Then Heath reconsidered. “Well, someone broke into their London flat not long after they moved in, probably five years ago. It was trashed. Some of Mystery’s jewelry was taken. But I think we were dealing with a petty thief, not the sort of animal who would threaten the life of a young woman.”

He didn’t have enough facts to say for certain. Axel filed that incident away and moved forward. “Who knew she intended to fly to the States, besides you and her father?”

Heath rolled his eyes. “Everyone who reads her Twitter feed. I’ve advised her to deactivate it, but she insists it’s one of the ways she keeps in touch with fans and friends.”

“She put on her Twitter that she was coming to Dallas?”

“Not precisely. Look.” Heath pulled out his phone and launched Twitter. “This is her feed for the last week. Four days ago, she posted a picture of her suitcase.”

Axel read the caption that said she was excited she’d be visiting her aunt soon. “Shit.”

Heath scrolled and came to another picture of a plate of Mexican food posted two days ago. The accompanying verbiage indicated she was so happy to be getting some of the cheesy-gooey goodness, which was hard to find in London. The picture seemed harmless enough, but the menu with the restaurant’s name and location stood up on the table in the background.

He looked up at the other man with accusing eyes. “Why aren’t you preventing her from posting this?”

“I’ve tried.” Heath winced. “I can suggest all the reasons it’s a terrible idea, but I’m not her father, and he hasn’t seen fit to forbid her to use social media. He claims it’s good for her career, that she needs to be visible.”

“Not if it’s going to get her killed,” Axel grumbled.

“That’s where I come in. I’m simply supposed to be more vigilant, you see,” he said wryly. “Perhaps after this incident, he’ll grasp the scope of the danger.”

Heath scrolled again, revealing the next post. No picture, just one hundred forty characters or less explaining that she was curled up in her hotel room and looking forward to receiving some new personal effects of her mother’s.

When he would have scrolled again, Axel grabbed Heath’s wrist. “Wait. Read that again.”

The other man did and shrugged.

“Does she often post things about her mother?” Axel asked.

“No . . . but, of course, it tends to cross her mind more as we approach May twelfth.”

The anniversary of her mother’s death. Less than a week away. “That’s natural. I’m wondering if that has anything to do with the reason Mystery has been targeted. After all, it’s an unsolved case.”

“I’ve looked into it extensively. Personally, I think Julia Mullins was intentionally pushed off that mountain. Perhaps I’m wrong, but—”

“I don’t think so. I’ve thought it, too,” Axel said. “Just like I’ve considered that Mystery’s kidnapping might have something to do with her mother’s murder. I might be wrong, and proving it would be a long shot, but no other violence has befallen the family. I know Mullins believes the abduction had something to do with his celebrity, but why didn’t someone send him a ransom demand when Mystery was held captive?”