Break Point Read Online Free Page B

with her back to him.
    “I think you remember more than you want to.”
    “Can’t you just go down to the police and get my initial statement? Isn’t that just as helpful?”
    “I want to hear it from you,” he answered, softly. “As best as you can. With as man y details as you can remember.”
    His voice was gentle like a whisper, but strong enough to penetrate the room. “Its okay.” he assured her. “I promise, I won’t ask twice.”
    She sat down where she stood, with her legs tucked underneath her. Reaching out to the pile of papers in front of her, she pulled out a small scrap then balled it up in her hand. “I was in the locker room at a tournament final up in Tampa,” she heard herself say. “I had just gotten dressed. We were told we had ten minutes until we were to take the court.”
    “Who’s ‘we’?”
    “Nila Norcova. This was the third time in a row we were meeting in a title match. There was a lot of press about it, and I was just about to head out to the court when I saw this masked man going through my racquet bag. He had a knife. One thing led to another. I tried to fight him off...”
    She stopped. The memory was still so vivid. She forced a jagged breath and shook her head, as if it would help to dull the focus. “The next thing I can remember is waking up at Riverside Hospital with a nurse standing over me telling me how lucky I was my arm wasn’t completely severed.” She laughed, trying to hold back the tears. “Lucky. I’ll be lucky if this guy doesn’t come back and finish the job.”
    “That’s not going to happen.”
    Behind her she heard him retrieve his pen and pad of paper from his pocket. “So, what about the investigation? Any leads?”
    She turned to face him. “A few in the beginning. I received some scary fan mail. The police have been looking in to those but so far, nothing.”
    He nodded as his pen flew across the paper. “Tell me about this Geoffrey guy.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
    “I don’t know.” Jake replied. “You talk about him like he a big deal.”
    “I would hope so. He’s my fiancé.”
    His pen came to a sudden stop. “Your fiancé?” he mumbled. “You didn’t tell me you were engaged.”
    “We haven’t been for long,” she explained. “We haven’t set a date yet or anything. But I’m sure we will as soon as he gets back from Bermuda with Nila.”
    “Wait a minute. Nila, the girl who you play against?
    “Yeah, Geoffrey is her manager, too.”
    He bit his lip before he spoke. “You mean to tell me this Geoffrey guy is lost in paradise with some other girl while his fiancé is sitting here scared to death.” Jake chuckled and nodded to her naked left hand. “Nice ring by the way.”
    “Look, I don’t need a ring and he’s on a necessary business trip. End of story.”
    “Whatever you say. All I know is if you were my fiancé I wouldn’t let you go to the bathroom alone.”
    She liked him. If for no other reason he made her laugh when she really felt like crying. But so what? Just because he had a sense of humor didn’t mean she should buy his compassion.
    “What about this fan mail?” he asked. “You have no idea where these weird letters are coming from?”
    She pushed a hair behind her ear and blew out a breath. “Jake, I am one of the world’s most highly-paid athletes. Just last year alone, I won twelve of the sixteen events I entered, launched my own athletic shoe line, and was on twenty-seven magazine covers worldwide. I get a lot of fan mail. It could be anybody.”
    In a sick way she wished it was “just anybody.”
    She should have thrown that match when her father had asked her too.
    She flinched when Jake brushed his fingers over her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
    Her voice failed, her mind still trying to grasp the idea of her own father trying to kill her, but her need to defend the man anyway. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be