“Yes. He would have had them ready and reached over to press them into place. He only needed a few seconds.” I sat down, studying the small devices. “This explains how he knew where you were and could follow you.”
“He could hear me all this time?” Her voice was garbled, thick.
I lifted my head, shocked at her expression. Tears were running down her face, and she was white as a ghost. She covered her mouth, her hand shaking.
“He listened—he listened to everything?” she gasped, her breathing fast.
I stood. “Leo—”
He picked up the little stuffed animal and headed for the door. “I’ll come back.”
I crossed the room, kneeling in front of her. I cupped her face, shaking my head.
“No, baby. Not when you were in my apartment complex or my home. Not inside this office building. If we had come in the front door, you would have walked through a security checkpoint that would have shut down the trackers and alerted us to their presence. Because we came up inside the building already, the machines by the front door didn’t pick them up. Leo’s extra scanners did.”
“But before today…?”
“He may have tracked you to my street, but he would lose all capabilities to hear or track you once you’re inside the apartment complex.”
“So, he didn’t—he didn’t hear us? When we were together?” she whispered, her voice heavy with tears.
I stroked her cheek in gentle circles. “No, Raven.”
I pulled her to me, wrapping her in my arms. I sat in the chair she had been in, holding her tight.
“Those were our moments. Our intimate, private moments,” she sobbed. “To think he’d stolen that from us…”
I kissed her head, something tender and new unfurling in my chest. “No, Raven. The only one who hears how you sound when we make love is me. I’m the only man who will ever hear that sound again.”
She shuddered and buried her face into my neck. I stroked up and down her back in long passes, marveling at her sweet, worried thoughts. But I hated to see her so upset. She calmed, releasing a pent-up breath of air.
“Why didn’t you turn them off when you discovered them just now?”
“I didn’t want to tip him off that we had discovered them if he was listening.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed.
“He’ll assume they are being blocked right now, but not discovered. We want him to keep thinking that way.”
She nodded, silent for a moment before speaking again.
“He heard us in my apartment.”
“It depends where your bag was compared to where we were. Leo is probably testing the devices to figure out their capabilities. I assume he heard enough.”
“All this time,” she whispered. She looked up, her red-rimmed eyes doing something to me. I wanted to find this asshole right now and eliminate him. Permanently.
And this time, I would probably enjoy it.
“The roof?” she asked. “When we were talking? When I was on the phone with Deb?”
“He might have heard you, but he might not have. I’ve never tested it. But he, no doubt, knows you are living in my place. He still can’t get to you, Raven. He can’t get in the building.”
“But if he heard me, he didn’t show up at the coffee shop.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Maybe he’s given up?” she asked hopefully.