“No. He disappeared. I moved as soon as I could and switched all of my accounts to my middle name, and wanted to kick myself for not using a pseudonym from the get-go.”
She leaned against him and just breathed for a few moments. He could feel the fine, exhausted tremble running through her as he and Hank closed ranks around her, shielding her from the ranch house and the gathering, allowing her a chance to gather her wits. He wished it was in his power to protect her from encounters like that. Knowing Hank, he felt the same way.
Hank eventually asked, “Did Ace talk to you?”
“Yes. I have an appointment with him, to go over my options, and to look more in depth at my computer and my mobile devices. I’ve handled all my own technology issues for years, and it’ll be nice to have experts I can trust to turn to for help.”
Hank smiled and shrugged. “Right now, your personal safety and the safety of your files online are the only things I’m concerned with, Nika. Did Brent have access to your computers?”
She looked back and forth between the two of them and said, “He installed antivirus software and did the updates when they were needed but he doesn’t have access to my files. I doubt he’d have the imagination to think up something like what happened today. You think he’d do something to me personally?”
“I think he already has, Nika,” Hank murmured, cradling her cheek where Brent had struck her. “I’m not sure whether he’s involved in this mess but I know I don’t trust him.”
Veronica shook her head. “I’m not letting him or anyone else scare me. I’m safe on the ranch.”
Travis opened his mouth to speak but Hank beat him to the punch. “We’ll discuss it when we’re alone.” There was finality in his tone that Travis approved of as he gently rubbed Veronica’s shoulder. He could feel the knotted muscles under the surface and knew what she needed.
They walked her up to the Divine Creek Ranch house and were surprised when they met with applause and a standing ovation as they rounded the corner into the treed backyard. They’d moved the amplifier and microphone up from the arena and Ethan was playing emcee to their well-timed arrival.
Charity Connors, Grace’s sister, rushed up to her and said, “We have a table reserved for y’all near the front. Keep a lid on all those sexy ménage vibes unless you want more questions than you care to answer, okay?” she said as she whispered to them. “This is a pretty perceptive group. Several of them asked who the lady of the Divine Creek Ranch is, like they can tell there is one, and some of them are looking at me funny like I look familiar. Not good, since Grace and I bear a striking resemblance to each other.”
“Oh boy,” Veronica said with a giggle.
They ate dinner with the group, Ethan and Jack shared logistic information with them about the town, and how to find accommodations in Divine if they needed them, and then turned the microphone over to Veronica to share some parting words.
Travis sat side by side with Hank and watched with pride as their woman graciously thanked all the ladies for coming out and for their patience early in the day.
Tracy and Sue Farmer both said a few words, thanking Veronica and the men and women of the Divine Creek Ranch for extending such openhanded hospitality to them. As a group, the readers agreed to handle the posting of the fake invitation with decorum, understanding that an outcry on Veronica’s behalf could result in a backlash that might hurt her.
Travis wasn’t sure he agreed. He wanted retribution for the anonymous asshole who’d signed up with the forum only long enough to post the authentic-looking invitation in the group calendar before poofing it again. He’d leave it to Ace, Kemp, Duke, and Gage to look into all that stuff. He wanted to tear the nuts off of the person responsible, because man or woman, they’d had balls to go that far to hurt Veronica.
He admired that she refused to let the person responsible make her feel unsafe, but he planned to voice his own opinion on the subject once they were alone. Knowing he and Hank were on the same page, he sought out Ace Webster as Veronica mingled in the departing group. She was quite a woman, rising to the challenge, but he could see the fatigue in her eyes.