The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 252

Chapter 226: The Report

Caleb POV

Lena walked into my office on a Thursday morning, and she did not look happy. She dropped a heavy folder right next to my coffee cup.

Clam

“Is this the final security report on the kitchen breach from Tuesday?” I asked, looking up from my laptop. My chest still felt tight just thinking about how close that trespasser had gotten to Bella.

“It’s much worse than a simple trespass report, Caleb,” Lena said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “This is a full intelligence file on the man we had arrested. His name is Marcus Webb. I have actually been tracking his digital footprint.”

I pulled the folder toward me, stunned. “Marcus Webb? The freelance writer? He wrote a couple of competent pieces about Bella back in the early Hart Worldwide years. What does he have to do with Tuesday?”

“He is the man from Tuesday,” Lena said, her face completely serious. “And his professional interest has curdled into something entirely different over the past months. After the guards handed him over to the police on Tuesday, my team went through the digital camera we confiscated from him on the scene, and we raided his apartment.”

I started reading through the pages. My coffee went completely cold beside me. By the third page, I wasn’t reading a standard post-incident report anymore.

“He has been sending letters,” I murmured, my jaw tightening as I saw the scanned copies.

“They started a few months ago,” Lena explained, pointing at the dates. “They arrived at Bella’s public business address in batches. I flagged them at four months and started monitoring him closely.”

“He keeps writing that he isn’t going to hurt her,” I said, my voice dropping. “He says he is trying to protect her. From me.”

“Exactly,” Lena said. “He has a whole narrative in his head. In his mind, Bella is in danger, he is the only one who understands it, and you are the villain.”

“This is obsession,” I muttered.

“It gets worse, Caleb,” Lena warned me. “We developed the memory card from the camera the guards grabbed from his hands on Tuesday. I printed the contents. They are at the back of that folder.”

I flipped to the last few pages. There were months of photographs. The kitchen window. The terrace. The driveway. And then I saw the final photo. It was Grace’s nursery window, shot from a difficult angle in the trees, showing the soft amber glow of her nightlight inside.

He had been standing in the dark, photographing my daughter’s nursery window before he broke into our house.

I set the report down and sat completely still for a moment. It was the only way to stop myself from doing something violent as I looked up at Lena.

“Did you call the police?” I asked.

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<Chapter 226-The Report

Clam

“Already filed this morning, Lena answered immediately. “I wanted to have the full report ready for your desk first.

“Increase security to the absolute maximum on all three locations,” I ordered. “Tom’s school, our estate, and Bella’s office building.

“Done as of this morning,” Lena said.

“Good. I don’t want him of his accomplices nowhere near this family,” I said, staring at the picture of my daughter’s window.

“Understood,” Lena said. She paused for a moment, shifting in her chair. “There is one more thing, Caleb.”

“What is it?”

“Bella’s schedule this week includes two site visits and a lunch with the Marchetti legal team,” Lena told me. “She does not know about the Marcus Webb file yet. I came to you first, but”

“I’ll tell her,” I interrupted.

Lena frowned slightly. “When?”

I looked at the thick report again. Bella was already dealing with the Marchetti situation, Olivier was still causing trouble, and she had just finished dealing with Camille Fontaine, and the case with Margaret and Richard Hart. She was carrying so much weight and trying so hard not to let it show.

“After the weekend,” I said. “She has enough on her plate right now.”

“With respect, Caleb,” Lena said, her voice firm. “That is the wrong call.”

I looked away from her, thinking I could protect Bella from the stress for just a few more days. I should have listened to Lena.

The next day at exactly four-fifteen, my office door swung back hard against the wall. Bella walked in, her heels clicking sharply against the floor, with Lena following right behind her.

I looked up from my desk, my chest tightening.

She turned, grabbed the edge of the heavy door, and shut it with a firm, deliberate click.

Lena stayed back against the wall, wisely keeping her mouth shut.

Bella marched straight to my desk. She didn’t sit down instead leaned forward, she placed both hands flat on the wood and stared directly into my face, her knuckles white.

When she spoke, her voice was a quiet whisper that cut through the room.”Do not protect me from information about my children’s safety,” she said. “Ever.”

The room went completely silent. I could feel the heat of her glare across the table.

“Are we clear, Caleb?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, meeting her eyes directly. “We are clear.”

2.3

Chapter 226 The Report

“Good,”

Claim

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