The New Year passed without incident.  Lia and Dominic rang in the New Year with the family Dom now considered his own.  Mariani’s was closed for New Year’s Eve, so the party was held there. It was a great night, full of laughs, good food, music, dancing and arguing.  In other words, it was a typical Mariani event.

A week after the New Year, Dominic was headed to Abu Dhabi to begin filming a new action movie.  This was a two month shoot that would have them filming in Abu Dhabi, London and Italy.  Lia also had a new project set to start filming around the same time.  The comedy was set in New York so she was glad to not have to travel, but because her shoot overlapped with Dom’s she wouldn’t be able to join him in Italy like they’d planned.

Even though the couple was glad to have new projects to concentrate on given the stress of the past few weeks due to the issues with her neighbor, Eric Davison, they were both still concerned about Lia being alone in their apartment.  Mimi had contacted her cousin Ellis, who was with the NYPD and explained the situation to him.  He told them that according to the laws in the state of New York, Davison hadn’t done anything that he could be charged with.  And even if he had repeatedly had the same kind of contact with her, it’d only be considered 4th degree stalking,  which is considered a class b misdemeanor.  It only carries a penalty of no more than 3 months in prison and a fine of no more than $500.  Understandably, this irritated their friends and family.

“So, your telling me that he has to threaten her with a weapon or actually cause her physical harm before he’d get any real time in prison?”  Mimi questioned, frustrated.

“Yeah, cuz.  It’s fucked up because the law doesn’t really deter stalkers at all.  They do a little time, pay a fine and it’s business as usual”.

“You’re damn right it’s fucked up!  So what do we do?  We don’t want this situation to escalate”.

“My advice?  Tell her to hire a bodyguard.  If this guy is showing signs of obsession, better to be safe than sorry”.

“Yeah.  Well thanks anyway, Ellis.  Tell Aunt Gladine I said hey”.

The situation was really pissing Mimi off.  Stalkers were a serious threat, especially if they escalate.  You shouldn’t have to wait until your life was in actual danger for the crime to be treated as a felony.  Mimi would definitely suggest the bodyguard to Lia.  Right now, she was going to head to the store and purchase some mace and a whistle for her bestie.

************************************

Filming had been arduous for Lia today.  They didn’t finish the filming day until 3 am, which meant that Gio had to sacrifice some sleep in order to pick her up and get her home.  Her brothers had decided that there was no way she was going to be traveling back and forth by herself while Dominic was away.  Because Giovanni was single, he moved in to Lia and Dom’s apartment while Dom was away.  He had insisted on it and although Lia was hesitant to ask him to uproot his life for her, she was frightened enough to be grateful for the gesture.  

Her whole family had closed ranks around her.  Anyone who could be there when Gio couldn’t was there.  Uncle Paolo had begun taking her to the gun range to teach her to shoot.  It was unfortunate that the waiting period for a gun permit was 6 months; Paolo wanted her to be armed in case this guy decided to push his luck.  Her father was an expert in Krav Maga and a black belt in Jeet Kun Do and began training her in those fighting techniques.  Her family was going to make sure she could defend herself in the event that the worst case scenario happened.  She would also have Seamus with her for protection.

About a week after Dom left for filming she got a call from the apartment building’s management company.  It was surprising, to say the least.  It was a Tuesday when the call came in.

“Hello, may I speak with Dominic MacLeod or Lia Mariani?”

“This is Miss Mariani”.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Mariani.  This is Sarah Camp from Highland Management”.

Shit! This was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.  “Ms. Camp, hello.  Listen, my fiancee and I are still trying to re-home our dog.  We can assure you, we’ll have him placed somewhere else before your deadline”.  She tried to keep the anger out of her voice, to no avail.

“Well, that was why I was calling you, Miss Mariani.  The other tenant has withdrawn his complaint.  He admitted that he’d overreacted and didn’t want you to lose your dog, who we were told by both of our doormen is quite docile, over a misunderstanding.  As a result, we are reversing our decision to have your dog removed from the property”.

Lia couldn’t believe it.  She felt the sting of unshed tears in her eyes.  “Thank you!  Thank you, SO much, Ms. Camp.  You don’t know how much this means to us”.

“I’m happy I could be the one to deliver the good news”.  The woman then lowered her voice to a whisper.  “I’m a huge fan of you and your fiancee’s work”.

Lia chuckled.  “Well, thank you.  For everything”.

When the call ended Lia called Seamus.  “SEAMUS!  Come here baby boy!”  Seamus came running.  When he sat in front of her, she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the dog.  “Seamus, you can STAY!  You can stay with mommy and daddy!”  

Seamus had no idea what Lia was saying, he was just excited that she was on the floor with him.  It made it easier for him to give her his doggie kisses.

She called Dominic and they “high fived” each other via Skype.  It was a great day.

A week later, the gifts began coming.

*******************************************

The first thing to arrive was a beautiful arrangement of roses and lilies, two of her favorite flowers.  The card simply read “for my love, you’re always in my heart”.  Lia assumed that Dominic sent them so she sent him a text thanking him for the lovely bouquet.  He called her an hour later.

“Hey babe, I got your text.  Um...I didn’t send you flowers, honey”,  he said.

“But they had a card that said “for my love, you’re always in my heart”.  As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart began to race.  

Picking up on her distress, Dominic said, “You don’t think they’re from HIM, do you?”

“I don’t know.  But if you didn’t send them, who else could have?”  Dom could hear the fear in her voice.  He was pissed, but he knew he needed to stay calm for her.

“Okay, here’s what I want you to do, baby.  Call the florist and ask them if they can give you the name of the sender.  We are going to need to collect that information in order to have enough evidence to press charges against him”.  You are not to go ANYWHERE without someone with you, alright sweetheart?”

“Okay.  I’ll tell Gio what’s happening now”.  Lia took a couple of deep breaths in order to get her heart rate under control.

“Baby, it’s gonna be okay.  None of us is going to let anything happen to you, understand?”

“Yeah.  I just can’t wait for you to come home”, she said around the lump in her throat.

“I know, angel.  I can’t either”.

****************************************

Lia had a 7am call time.  She decided that she was going to hire a car service to take her to and from the set so that she wouldn’t have to wake Gio up.  He reluctantly agreed to that, but he still walked her to the car in the morning.  

The whole Eric situation was at the forefront of her mind, but she tried not to let it affect her work.  She took her career seriously, and she wasn’t going to let anyone cause her to lose focus.  Transforming herself into a character, inhabiting their skin, expressing their emotions was cathartic for her.  It helped her to momentarily forget her problems.  Unfortunately, her problems were determined to follow her wherever she went.

While she was waiting for the next scene to be set up, there was a knock on her trailer door.  She opened it and saw one of the production assistants standing there with a bouquet of sunflowers.  

“Lia, some guy asked me to deliver these for you”.

Lia’s blood ran cold.  It couldn’t be.  She took the card from the bouquet.  “For my love.  Always thinking of you”.  “And you saw the guy?”  she asked the p.a.

“Yeah, he handed the flowers right to me.  Why, what’s wrong?”

“What did he look like?”

“Tall, thin, blonde.  Handsome, but kind of creepy”.

“Oh God”, Lia whispered.

******************************************

Lia explained the situation about the man stalking her to the producers and director.  Security was immediately beefed up and the studio arranged a personal security detail for Lia.  She felt safer knowing that she’d have constant protection, but she resented the upheaval Eric Davison was causing in her life.  The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.  She became fearsome during her Krav Maga and martial arts training.  She had a single-minded focus...and if Eric ever came within 10 feet of her she vowed that he would be the object of that focus and she would unleash a fury she’d never felt before.

Her father was proud to see his daughter’s progress.  She took to both combat disciplines like a duck to water.  He just hated the circumstances under which she started her training.  A father doesn’t want to see any of his children hurting and living in fear, especially his daughter.  But Gabriele would do whatever he could to arm Lia with the tools to defend herself.

*********************************************

Eric smiled when he thought about Lia’s face when she got his flowers.  He knew she’d be happy with them.  He read an article about her in a magazine and she’d said that her favorite flowers were roses, lilies and sunflowers, so he’d sent her bouquets he knew she’d like.  He’d wanted to make her happy, to not be afraid of him.  That’s why he withdrew his complaint about her dog with the management company.  He didn’t want her to be distressed, he wanted to see her smile.  He wanted to be the one to put a smile on her face.

Now he was looking online for the perfect piece of jewelry for her.  He would have preferred to pick out the item in person, but he wanted to remain anonymous for now.  He wanted to maintain some mystery; to reveal his intentions slowly.  It was more romantic that way.  He was courting his woman, treating her with respect.  Not like that neanderthal, who didn’t have the decency to marry her before he began an intimate relationship with her.  He realized that she held some blame in that, too, but she was probably tricked into it.  He probably filled her head with nonsense and promises.  He hated men who didn’t appreciate the worth of a woman.  He’d show Lia that she deserved better.

He was pulled out of his reverie when he saw the perfect pair of sapphire earrings on a jewelry store website.  ‘They’re so her’ he thought with a smile.  “She’ll love them. My darling Lia”, he whispered as he ran a finger over the framed picture of her sitting on his desk.

************************************

Lia signed for the package at 10am on a Tuesday.  Production had shut down because the male lead, Randall Livingston, had broken two fingers during a stunt sequence.  She was grateful for the day off.  She invited Mimi for some much needed girl time and she’d been there when the package arrived.

“What’s that?”,  Mimi asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s from a jeweler”.  Lia opened the package and found a velvet box inside.  She opened it and gasped when she saw a beautiful pair of sapphire earrings.  Sapphires were her favorite gemstone.

Mimi looked in the box the earrings were packaged in and found a card.  “For my darling, Lia.  I’m always thinking of you”,  said Mimi, reading the card out loud.  “Awww.  Dom’s so sweet”.

Lia’s blood ran cold.  “They aren’t from Dominic”, she said flatly.  “They’re from Eric”.

“Goddamn him!!”,  shouted Mimi.  “I want to go up to his apartment and beat the shit out of him!”

“Yeah, and then you’d find yourself carted off to jail while he’s free to keep harassing me.  I’m tired of this!”

Lia took out her phone and texted Dom asking him when she could Skype him.  He responded stating that he had time now.

When the call connected, Lia didn’t even say hello.  “I need to get out of this building.  We need to move as soon as possible”.

“What happened, baby?”  Dominic asked, worry knitting his brow.

Lia began to weep.  “I can’t take it, Dom.  I feel like a prisoner; like my life is not mine.  All because of some crazy, obsessed guy.  I can’t live like this!  We either move, or so help me I’ll get one of Paolo’s guns and put two between that bastards eyes!”

Dominic hated seeing her like this, and him not being there to comfort and protect her was killing him.  “I’ll be home in two weeks.  We’ll start looking for a house as soon as I get back to New York”.

“I shouldn’t be burdening you with this while you’re working”,  Lia said, sniffling.  “I know you need to concentrate on work right now”.

“You’re my first priority, angel.  Don’t you dare feel like you’re burdening me with ANYTHING.  We’re one entity; what hurts you, hurts me”.

Lia nodded.  “Thank you, baby.  I love you”.

“I love you more, sweetheart.  Don’t worry, we’ll get out of that building and never look back”.

When Lia disconnected the call, Mimi came over to the desk and hugged her best friend.  She wanted to get one of Paolo’s guns and put two in him, herself.

*****************************************

After Dominic disconnected the Skype session with Lia, he got notification that another call was coming through.  It was his father.  Fan-fucking-tastic.

As his father’s face filled the screen, Dom said “What happened to you not contacting me as long as I’m with my fiancee?”

“Yes, Nessa told us you’ve gotten engaged”, said Dominic’s father, William.

“Uh huh”, was Dom’s only reply.

“Well...your maw and me decided we wanted to come to New York and see you...and meet Mia”.

“Her name is LIA, da...and you KNOW it”.

“Dinnae take that tone with me, boy-o.  I’m still your father”.

“Don’t disrespect the woman I love and I won’t be so quick to forget that fact”.

“I dinnae call to fight, boy-o.  We want to see ya, is all.  Me, your maw, and Nessa.  Donal and Irene are coming as well”.

‘Great.  Juuuust great’, thought Dominic.  “Well, all right.  It’s going to have to wait a few weeks until I get back to the States”.

“Next month?  Is that alright then?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.  I’ll make the arrangements and pay for the tickets and a hotel”.

“Ya dinnae have ta do that, we can pay”.

“I know, but I’m still going to take care of everything. Alright?”

“Yeah.  I’ll talk to you later, Dom”.

“Alright, Da”.

When the call ended, Dominic scrubbed his face with his hands and sighed.  Lia had some guy stalking her and now his family coming to visit.  Dom felt a real shit storm brewing.