Victoria Grayson had always considered herself to be in control of every situation. She had learned the hard way to analyze the outcome of situations rather than diving in. And yet, as she sipped wine on her cupola, she feared that the situation was spiraling out of control. She knew deep down that she needed to tell Conrad, but her stubbornness prevented her from doing so. Things with Conrad had been especially toxic the past few weeks and although he would protect her, she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing she needed him.
It started simply enough. At a local fundraising meeting she was approached by a man she had never seen before. He was attractive, middle aged with brown hair and green eyes. Although Victoria couldn't deny that she found Eric Palmer attractive, she hadn't thought much else of it.
About a week or two later, she arrived at the country club for her tennis match. Her tennis partner had been cancelled without notifying her. At the exact moment Eric had approached her, offering to partner for tennis. She had agreed, but her suspicions were on high alert. Victoria did not believe in coincidences. She had heard from both Eric and her tennis coach that he had been trying desperately to schedule another match with her.
She hadn't responded one way or the other about the tennis match and yet her interactions with Eric seemed more and more frequent. He would show up at the coffee shop as she was ordering, he would be sitting across from her when she ate lunch at a restaurant.
Most recently, he had been hovering around her favorite boutique. As she exited the dressing room he called her name. He invited her to dinner and although she wasn't fond of Conrad, she reminded him that she was married. He changed his invite to grabbing a cup of coffee. Unable to think of another excuse, she had agreed.
Eric was very polite, but still Victoria felt uncomfortable around him. He seemed to have all the answers, mentioning artists and interests that she had. Instead of feeling genuine, Victoria got the impression he had studied up on her before their initial encounter.
Afterwards she had intense research done on Eric Palmer and found that he had gone to school with Victoria in their youth. Although she had changed so much since the middle school girl she had been before being forced to take the fall for her mothers murder she found it hard to believe the entire thing was a coincidence. How long had he been following her? What was he trying to achieve?
She clutched the information on Eric in her hand, silently promising herself that she would not involve Conrad. She could handle one man, right?