Heart of Stone

Fear

The next day, Eloise was working in her garden under the hot sun, collecting the flower pieces she would need for the floral arrangement. She was rather particular every time she did this and inspected all of the plants with a fine eye for detail before choosing. She laid them delicately in a basket in the back of her golf cart. She continued on like this until she was about halfway through, and a voice startled her out of her concentration. She whirled around to find Julian Styles standing there in her flower garden in a grey suit with a blue and white pinstripe button up and brown leather dress shoes.

"Hey, there." He threw a charming smile at her.

Her heart jumping in her chest a little, her initial reaction was to look around. There was nobody else here. How did he get here and what was he doing here?

"Uh...hi. How did you...?" She found that words were failing her, remembering the warning Alexander had given her yesterday.

He chuckled a little.

"I was passing by and happened to see your car parked in the driveway." He responded simply.

Red flags were raising in her head and a sense of how utterly alone here she was settled around her like a blanket. She missed her dog. Her black suburban was hardly noticeable and how did he know it belonged to her anyhow? He would have had to remember the plate number, but it was more likely that he somehow knew where she lived rather than passing by and recognizing her car.

"Well...can I help you with something?" She asked, casually slipping her hands into the back pockets of her green overalls, wrapping her fingers around her phone.

"I just came to pay you, actually. I was on my way to your shop when I noticed your car." He explained, pulling out his wallet.

"Oh, you don't have to do that until I'm done with the piece." She protested.

"Nonsense." He said, pulling out a wad of cash with his watch glinting in the sun.

Hesitantly, she reached out and took the money from him. At a quick glance she could tell he was overpaying her.

"This is way too much. Why don't you pay me when I've come up with a final price?" She said, attempting to hand the money back to him.

"No, you keep it. I insist." He said, reaching out and taking her hand in his.

He closed her fingers over the money and gave her another charming smile, his white teeth stark against his tan skin. The action made the hair on the back of her neck rise.

"Besides, we can count it as payment for other services." He added, and the look on his face made something unpleasant twist in her gut.

She swallowed and planted her feet firmly in the ground and straightened her spine.

"I'm not really sure what other services you're referring to, but if you'd like additional floral arrangements in the future, we can apply the amount to that." She responded in a professional tone, giving him her own clipped smile.

Smirking, he withdrew his hand from hers.

"Have a nice day, Miss LouLou. Beautiful property you have here." He said, glancing around before he turned to walk away.

Eloise watched him until he had disappeared around the corner of her apartment and immediately pulled out her phone, blowing out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Something was wrong inside that man. Alexander had been right. For the first time in a long time, she felt afraid in her own home.

With shaking fingers, she scrolled through her contacts, wondering who to call or what to do. She found she desperately wanted to leave, but she didn't know if he could still be lurking around the side of her house, waiting for her. The thing that scared her most was that he knew where she lived. She thought about calling the police, but what would they really do? What would she tell them? That a client of hers had found her house and decided to pay her the money he owed her?