Chapter One
Natalia
“I’m getting off the plane now. Is the house set up for me?”
“Yeah, Honey. Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” My mom was worried about me, and she had every right to be. I had a stalker, somebody lurking in the shadows—watching me. The last six months had been the most nerve racking of my life, ever since I got that first package.
The first letter and rose I didn’t take seriously, in fact I thought it was sweet that someone had sent me an anonymous letter telling me how much they loved my photos. That sweetness turned into creepy very quickly. Six months went by, and each month I got a letter with another rose added to it. The letters were getting more possessive, and I was starting to get scared.
After being away from home for five years, I was back. The bitter cold of Canada was a shock to my California acclimated system. I’d left home at seventeen when I sent my pictures into a modeling agency and someone had contacted me wanting to represent me. In five years, I’d gone from a no name Canadian kid to an international supermodel recognized around the globe. It was my dream to get out of my little town in Alberta to see the world, and I did.
Mom and dad flew down to LA a few times to see me, but this was the first time I was coming home. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I got off the plane and saw the beautiful snow-covered landscape of Edmonton.
“I’m sure, Mom. I don’t want you guys to get caught up in all of this.”
“You’re my daughter, Nat. It’s my job to protect you.”
“I know, Mom, but I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
We’d talked about this a few times over the last few weeks while I ran across the US on different flights, trying to hide myself from this guy. My long, curly, blonde locks that I was known for were gone. I had a short, sassy, chocolate cherry-colored bob now. Paranoia was setting in because I was almost to the point of walking away from modeling if this guy wasn’t caught.
“Natalia, I need to tell you something.”
“Yes?” I questioned hesitantly.
“Are you at the baggage claim yet?”
I smiled, thinking that they were here to pick me up. It was just like them to do that. God, I missed my parents so much. I stayed away far too long.
“Are you here?” I guessed picking up the pace to get there. all of a sudden homesickness swamped me and I wanted to hug my parents so hard that the broken pieces of myself would fit back together.
“No, we aren’t. We are waiting for you at the rental, but we sent a friend to get you.”
“A friend?” I asked skeptically. “Uncle E?” I guessed. Elijah Edwards wasn’t technically my uncle. He was my dad’s best friend from back in the day. They were as close as brothers, and I grew up calling him Uncle E because when I was a young girl, I couldn’t say Elijah, so it stuck.
“No. It’s not Uncle E. It’s Uncle E’s son of sorts.”
Uncle Elijah and his wife Madison didn’t have kids. They weren’t able to have them, even though they tried for years. Eventually they adopted a girl, Avery, but she was probably only about ten years old now.
“Who?” I stepped on the escalator, my purse hung across my body, and the hood of my jacket pulled up to help hide my identity. I wanted to make sure that nobody saw me or made a fuss about me being back in Canada. The last thing that I needed was the tabloids spouting my location to the world.
“His name is Gavin. He’s a Mountie. I’ll explain the rest when you get home.”
“Mom, what did you do?”
Her voice broke as she said, “We just want you safe, Nat.” I could hear the tears in her voice as she choked back sobs. “I just want my baby safe.”
Mom hung up the phone, and I started to worry about what I was about to get myself into. What plans had she made with this Gavin guy? Who was he to Uncle E? Why had I never heard of him before? But most importantly, what the hell was my mother up to?