"Nicholas...why do you have these pictures?" Alexis asked her brother who looked upset.

"Why were you going through my things Alexis?"

She took a step back, "These are pictures of me Nicholas. The kind a stalker or some kind of sick voyeur would take. Why do you have them?"

"Why do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know what to think! It's why I'm asking!" she was breathing heavily in fear and anger but mostly anger. Alexis couldn't believe that her brother would do something like this. It wasn't possible. There had to be some plausible explanation.

Nicholas stopped moving towards her when he saw how scared she was. She unconsciously had one of her hands up in case she needed to ward off an attack from him. He sighed and crouched down to the ground, keeping his face in his hands, "I'm such an idiot."

Alexis stared at her brother in confusion, "Nicholas...you can talk to me. I'm your sister. Whatever it is...we can work through this together. I can help you."

Nicholas laughed, still hiding his face in his hands, "Help me?"

"Yes, I can try to help you."

"Alexis you can't even help yourself. How are you going to help me? Why do you think I'm even in this mess?" Nicholas had looked up to Alexis and was shouting as he stood up.

Alexis tossed the photos onto the desk and asked, "What exactly is going on? What situation?"

"Those pictures," Nicholas pointed to them, "They weren't taken by me Alexis. They were given to me."

"Given to you?"

"I found them in my truck yesterday morning. There was also a note that said if I went to the police they'd kill you," Nicholas ran his hands in his hair.

Alexis stared at her brother in disbelief, "What did he want?"

Nicholas looked up surprised, "How did you-"

"How did I know? Why else would he threaten to kill me if you went to the police? He wanted something. So what was it? What did he want?"

Nicholas shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it. It doesn't matter anymore anyway. They arrested that creepy client you have so we shouldn't be bothered by him anymore."

"They arrested him for domestic violence not for stalking or blackmailing. What did the note say?"

Nicholas shrugged, "It said to leave you in the house alone on Monday night."

"What? And you were going to do it?" Alexis rushed forward and began hitting her brother who tried covering himself with his arms.

"Owww...stop it Alexis! I wasn't going to leave you by yourself. Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

Alexis stopped for a moment to respond, "You didn't tell me about the pictures as soon as you found them...so yeah!" She proceeded to hit him until he grabbed her wrists.

"Look I didn't know what to do alright? I freaked so I called Luke to come over and we talked about it. He was going to come in on Monday and install the alarm."

Alexis attempted to hit him again, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to get more scared than you already were. You just went on a date with that psychologist. It was the first time in weeks that you weren't walking around here on eggshells. How could I tell you that someone sent me their stalker photos of you?" Nicholas let go of her wrists and took a step back, "Admit it. If I told you about it...you would've been worse than you already are."

"I'm fine!" Alexis said loudly to convince her brother but somehow it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

"Are you? Because you don't look fine," Nicholas whispered and swiped a tear from her cheek.

Her face crumpled as she leaned into her brother for support, "Why is this happening to me Nicholas? What did I do to deserve this?"

Nicholas patted her back as she sobbed against him, "It's okay Alexis. That guy's in jail and the alarm will be installed soon. It's going to be okay. I promise."

"Tell me again where you were that night," the detective leaned forward against the wooden table that separated him and Larry French.

"I told you I don't know that woman," Larry said as he pointed to the picture of Deandra Ward. "I wasn't even in town that week. I was out of town on a business trip."

"Is there anyone that can corroborate your story?" the detective asked.

"My story? Do you think I'm making this up?" Larry was insulted.

The detective leaned back and appraised Larry, "You're not a bad looking guy. You make a good amount of money. I bet women throw themselves at you."

Larry blushed, "I'm married!"

The detective shrugged, "So?"

"So I wouldn't...wouldn't do something like...like that," Larry said, clearly flustered.

"You wouldn't be the first to stray from the woman he's been married to for years. Besides, I saw that journal. You know...the one where you wrote all those love letters to your therapist."

"That was private!"

"C'mon Larry. Throw me a bone. How did you know Deandra Ward?"

Larry slammed his hands on the desk, "I didn't know her! I don't know her! I don't want to know her!"

"She was friends with your therapist...you know...the woman you claimed to love in your journal," the detective smirked.

Larry's eyes narrowed, "How dare you mock me. Those are my personal feelings that I wrote about!"

"I hate to break it to you but your Dr. Reyna wants nothing to do with you. She's probably filing a restraining order right about now."

"I haven't done anything! For the last time...I'm innocent."

The detective stood up, "I'll be right back Larry. You keep thinking of someone that saw you when you were out of town."

The detective walked out to see Officer Shelby Diaz waiting for him. "Did you find out anything?" she asked.

"Nope. Not a thing. Honestly Shelby, I don't think he's the guy."

Officer Shelby Diaz had told the detective in charge of Deandra Ward's murder all about the stalking of Dr. Reyna and how the same person could be the murderer of Deandra Ward. It was all connected but convoluted and Shelby wanted to get to the bottom of it. When Larry had been arrested for domestic violence, the journal he had written his love fantasies in was given to her by his wife Sylvia.

"Take it," she said, "I may need it back as evidence for when I divorce him."

At the time, Shelby just thanked Mrs. French and shook her head at the entire situation.

"I'm sorry Shelby but we're going to have to let him go. There's not much evidence to show that he's the one that killed Deandra Ward other than the connection to this stalking business and that's pretty light to begin with. Besides, once he lawyers up, it'll be easy for him to miraculously come up with an alibi."

Shelby shook her head and thanked the detective. As she walked back to her desk, she spotted her partner Officer Dean Winters, texting on his phone. He didn't look up when he said, "I told you it would be a waste of time."

Shelby nodded. Maybe Winters was right. Maybe Dr. Alexis Reyna really didn't have a stalker.

Alexis was sitting in her living room next to her brother Nicholas. They were still drained from their argument earlier in the day.

"Are you still mad at me?" Nicholas asked.

Alexis shook her head, "I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed that's all. I wish neither of us had to deal with this kind of thing."

Nicholas nodded. He was about to speak when the doorbell rang. Alexis answered it to see Chace with a box of pizza in his hands.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Nicholas invited me over," Chace smiled.

"Nicholas?" Alexis looked back to her brother who also smiled.

"His exact words were, 'She wants some pineapple and anchovy pizza.' At least I think that's what he said," Chace explained.

Alexis turned to Nicholas, "How could you?"

"What? I was hungry," Nicholas said as he stepped forward and took the box of pizza from Chace.

Chace looked at Alexis in confusion until she answered, "Nicholas is the only one who eats pineapple and anchovies on a pizza."

Chace laughed and said, "Then maybe you and I should go out to eat?"

"Smooth!" Nicholas shouted from behind them. "Alexis you should go out with him just for that line alone."

"Please forgive my immature brother," Alexis said loud enough for Nicholas to hear.

"He's helping me spend time with you...so I don't mind," Chace whispered.

Alexis smiled and went to grab her purse. Nicholas whispered to her, "Hey, I'm sorry but I thought you could use a break from all this stalker crap. Relax and enjoy yourself, okay?"

Alexis nodded and hugged her brother, "I'm sorry Nicholas but thank you for always thinking of me. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Probably become a crazy old cat lady," Nicholas joked.

Twenty minutes later Alexis and Chace were each eating a burger at a local bar that doubled as a karaoke joint.

"Do you sing?" Chace asked Alexis.

"Yes...badly."

He laughed, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to sing with me onstage."

"Oh no way would I do that!" Alexis balked at the idea.

"Not even for me?"

"Nope...not even for the Queen of England."

Chace laughed and asked, "Well if I sing you a song would I get extra points?"

"Points?" Alexis asked not following.

"Your brother told me you gave all your boyfriends a point system," Chace explained.

Alexis felt her face heat, "Nicholas told you that?"

Chace nodded and Alexis said, "He's lying! I don't do that. Why are you asking Nicholas for information about me anyway?"

"I didn't ask. He just offered."

"Well you should never believe him. He's always joking around."

"He is?"

Alexis nodded, "Yes."

"I wish I had known that before-"

"Before what?"

"I brought you to this Karaoke place. He said you'd love it," Chace explained. "He said you loved to sing when you were upset."

"He said that?"

"Yeah, he said it's how he knew when you were pms-ing. You'd be singing all around the house."

Alexis wanted to die of embarrassment. She was going to kill Nicholas. Chace laughed at her expression.

"Just for that, you're going to have to sing me a song," Alexis told Chace.

"What?"

"You heard me. Sing me a song and it better be good." Alexis told him.

Chace leaned forward and whispered, "And what do I get if I sing well?"

Alexis was blushing again and put her hands to her cheeks, "I'll have to think about it."

He winked at her and said, "I'll be right back."

Chace ran up to the stage and chose a song. The patrons of the bar quieted when Chace spoke into the microphone, "This song is for my date...I'm hoping to cheer her up today."

A few woman in the audience thought he was sweet and Alexis could hear them saying, "Awww."

The beginning chords of the song began to play and Alexis smiled. Chace was singing Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. As he began to sing into the microphone, Alexis giggled when a woman in front shouted, "Whoo hoo...white boy can sing!"

Alexis watched Chace singing on stage, and couldn't help but forget everything that had transpired earlier that day. All she could see was the handsome man serenading her with one of her favorite songs.

After he was done, the audience gave him a round of applause, some wolf whistles (by both women and men), and some people were even standing.

"My date everyone," Chace pointed to Alexis and everyone stared at her while she sat in her seat, surprised by the attention.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" a man at the bar began chanting. Before she knew it the entire crowd was chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

A lady wearing a denim dress pulled Alexis to her feet and dragged her to the stage to stand by Chace. Alexis tried hiding her smile and whispered to him, "I'm not one to fall for peer pressure."

He chuckled, "Then how about you kiss me because you want to not because they're telling you to."

Alexis looked up at the handsome man before her. He was grinning and he winked at her, causing her to melt. Chace leaned forward and Alexis closed her eyes when she felt his lips tenderly brush up against hers. As the kiss deepened, Alexis couldn't help but think that the past few weeks had been a nightmare filled with darkness and fear...but perhaps there was a light somewhere in the middle of all that darkness. Perhaps that light was Chace.