Macon entered his building directly across from Francesca's, he had rented a room directly across from hers where he had surveillance equipment set up to watch every move she made. He sat back and watched how she interacted with the brunette man that was with her. His anger rose each time the man touched her, kissed her or even handed her anything. She was cooking, Macon didn't even know she knew how to cook. She had never cooked for him, but here she was cooking for this man. He watched as she opened the door and in came the black haired man followed by all of the others from the night before. She and the brunette girl were the only two women with this group of men.

Macon had never allowed her to be that girl, the girl that hung out with a group of nothing but men. He knew how men thought, and how they would take advantage of her. He was angry as the blonde man picked her up and twirled her in a circle of a bear hug. He could see her laughing and squealing. He was seething and couldn't watch anymore. But he set the cameras for recording as he stalked away.

Chessy

Chessy cooked all day and couldn't have been happier. Her friends were with her playing Joey's video game system that he had brought, and she was feeding people. She was so ecstatic. "Ok guys," she called "soups on" She smiled widely as the group turned to where she had the food spread on the bar. "We have fried shrimp, baked beans, shrimp creole, potato salad, rice, fries, cole slaw, and for dessert we have peach cobbler with ice-cream and chocolate cake with homemade fudge icing." There were collective gasps from the room as she handed out plates and utensils.

"Chessy this is too much!" Tea said in amazement at all the food. "You didn't have to cook so much!"

"Food is my love language. I love feeding people. I was going to make gumbo, but couldn't find everything I needed. So I had to improvise." Chessy said simply as she picked a fried shrimp off of the platter.

"Move over, I'm about to demolish this." Joey said with a wide toothy grin as he pushed his way to the front. "Man Chess, talk about a match made in heaven, you love feeding people and I love being fed." She laughed as Seto came forward and put his arm around her waist. She wanted to remind him that they were not a couple, just friends. But she liked being in his arms, it made her feel safe. She reached up and placed a hand on the back of his neck pulling him closer and putting his head on her shoulder. Reaching down she grabbed another shrimp and held it up to his lips. She smiled as she felt him open his mouth and take the shrimp from her fingers. The whole group looked shocked at the two of them.

Joey dropped his plate and stalked over to the door, threw it open and walked out. "Joey, stop," she called, pulling out of Seto's grasp and following him. "Joey" she yelled as she ran after him. She finally caught him as the elevator door was starting to close. "Joey stop." she said as she got into the elevator with him. "Joey I'm sorry." He refused to look at her.

"You hurt me Chessy, you told me that you were not looking for a relationship right now. But there you are with him. I hate him, he's a cold hearted bastard. You are genuinely the most warm hearted person I have ever met and here you are with the most cold hearted person in the world."

"He's not all bad Joey, he's done a lot for me, besides that I didn't mean to fall in with him. It just kinda happened. I really wasn't looking for a relationship." She sat down on the floor of the elevator and he followed. "I promise Joey, I did not want to hurt anyone, least of all you." She looked over at him, "come back and eat Joey, spend some time with all of us, you know there is a ton of food up there and I cooked so much stuff it's crazy. But I knew that you would eat it." He nodded, still not looking at her.

He stood and held out a hand to help her up. "Chessy, do you love him?"

"It's too soon to say love, but I like being with him and I do love the way he makes me feel." The duo rode the elevator back up in silence.

When they got back to the apartment everyone else had already started eating. "Hey Joey you better get in there before Tristan and I eat everything." Mokuba teased. "This food is freakin' amazing." He said in between bites. "Seto, seriously, we need to fire our cook and hire Chessy."

"You know Mokuba," Seto said "if she just moved in she could cook like this for us all the time." He was sitting at the bar, his plate almost empty, his beer bottle only half empty.

"I think you're drunk." She said as she moved the beer away from him. "I am not moving in with anyone." She put the beer down and handed Joey a plate. "I like living on my own. But Mokuba, and all of you are welcome anytime. I love cooking for a crowd." She picked his beer back up and drank a long slow swig.

Macon used his binoculars to watch the group in Francesca's apartment. They had turned the lights off and were watching a movie. She was sitting on the floor in front of Kaiba, wrapped up in a blanket. He watched them for hours until the group left and all that remained was her and Kaiba. He watched as the two of them sat on the couch, her straddling his waist. They were kissing, his hands roaming under the back of her shirt. She wasn't stopping him as she had always stopped Macon. He watched as Kaiba unsnapped her bra and removed both it and her shirt, leaving her chest exposed to him. She turned her face towards the window as Kaiba began kissing the side of her neck and Macon could see the pleasure on her face. He was getting angrier by the moment. She was allowing that man to touch her in a way that she had never allowed Macon, and the little whore was enjoying herself. He watched as Kaiba picked her up and took her towards her bedroom, he watched as they had sex. The way her body moved under him and with him. Macon kicked the camera, sending it flying to the floor.

Sunday morning Chessy woke up and stretched. The now familiar feel of his body against hers. "I wasn't joking last night, what I said about you moving in." He said into her back.

"I wasn't either," she responded. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. "We're just friends, remember? Moving in with each other is not something that should even be brought up. Staying over is one thing, but I am not ready to live with a man again. It hasn't even been six months since I've lived with one. And living here alone, I love it. It's very liberating."

"If Macon is here, I can protect you at my house. I can't do that if you're here, Chessy." He said, turning her face toward him gently. "And it's not just me. Mokuba wants you to stay with us too. For your safety. You don't have to stay in my room, if that is the issue." The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the apartment door. Chessy stood up confused and put on her robe.

Chessy walked to the door and looked through the peephole at the delivery man standing there. "Francesca Delacroix?" He asked as she opened the door. She nodded and he handed her a very large box. "Have a great day ma'am."

"You too," she replied softly as she closed the door. She took the box and laid it on the coffee table. Tearing off the brown paper wrapping she saw a very thick manilla envelope. Placing it to the side she opened the box and a scream escaped her lips.

Seto

He jumped up when he heard the scream of terror from the living room. Running in he saw Chessy with tears in her eyes, her knees to her chest rocking back and forth on the couch. The box lay open in front of her. Peering in he saw what appeared to be a wedding dress and a large carat, gaudy diamond ring tied to a safety pin at the bodice. He looked at her and then back to the dress and saw the envelope on the table. He picked it up and opened the letter:

Francesca, you will wear this dress for me. Either willingly or unwilling. I will have you as my wife.

-M

There were pictures in the envelope as well. Pictures of Chessy and Mokuba. Of himself and her, of her and Tea. Pictures of the last few months. Pictures of them at the club the night she swore he touched her. "That's it!" Seto said as he slung the dress into the floor. "Pack your things. You are staying with me until this bastard is caught."

Chessy started to protest, but the look in his eyes said 'if you don't I will' so she obeyed. Packing her bags didn't take long as she didn't have much to her name. She left the dress in the box laying on the floor. She wanted it out of her apartment, but she couldn't bear to touch it.

The police met them at his home and Seto told them everything and gave them the letter with the pictures. He showed them the picture of Macon that Mokuba had found online. "We will do our best, Mr. Kaiba, but I'm going to be honest. Stalkers are hard to catch, and very rarely are they caught before harming their victims."

"If he hurts her, he's a dead man," Seto told the officer.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. But I would do the same. Mr Kaiba, if I could make a suggestion: get her out of Domino for a few days. If he's here, then take her where he isn't. We will be watching for him at the airports, if he tries to leave the country we will catch him. We will be working very closely with your security team to find this man. He will be a top priority."

Seto thanked the police as they left the mansion. That was a good idea, if Macon was here then he could take her home for a few days. He walked up the stairs to his room and opened the door to see Chessy standing in the middle of the room in a towel. He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm sorry. I should have made sure it was ok first. But I just couldn't stand touching something that he touched. Just the thought of his hands makes me want to vomit."

He walked over and took her in his arms, her damp skin wetting his shirt. "You don't have to ask my permission for anything. I am not your master or owner." He pulled away from her gently. "One of the police officers gave me a brilliant idea." He said as she was fishing through her bag for clothes. "Why don't we get out of town for a few weeks. Maybe, go to Cordelia and see your parents?" She stopped going through the bag and turned to look at him. "If Macon is here, then he's not there. There should be no problem with you going home."

"Really?" She asked, her face lighting up. "I can go home?"

"Really" he responded as she ran to him laughing and jumped into his arms. "Mokuba will stay here, to keep up appearances and we will go to Louisiana." She squealed excitedly as he put her down and she bounced on her heels.

"When can we leave?" She was still bouncing, reminding him of a kid in a candy store.

"How about tonight?" He asked and she squealed again. She was still bouncing, but now she was clapping as well. "You get dressed, I will go talk to Mokuba and let him know that we are going."