Chapter 15
“So? Who is he?” Raven asked impatiently, clearly on edge from his whole story.
“Erik is looking into it, but I seriously doubt he’s a fan of mine,” Charles said flatly. It was the morning after their trip to the store. He’d snuck out of Erik’s house before the sun was even up to avoid any more awkward confrontations with his favorite curious five year old.
He’d called Raven as soon as he got home, knowing she’d be up manning the ovens before the bakery opened.
“Why not? You’re really making a name for yourself. Who’s to say this guy isn’t hung up on you? And he tried to take a picture of the kid? That’s so weird!”
Charles had to agree, but something about the whole encounter still felt…off for some reason. Not that he’d ever encountered a stalker or obsessed fan before, so what did he really know about how they’d act?
“Charles?” Raven asked, sounding worried. He couldn’t tell her everything that was going on since he didn’t want to violate Erik and Nina’s privacy.
“He may also have been there because of Erik,” he hedged.
“Oh! Like some criminal he put away years ago and doesn’t remember? Or a rejected former lover who he doesn’t remember?”
He couldn’t help but laugh at her theories, “Nothing so dramatic I’m sure. We’ll just have to wait and see. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case this guy is following me, you may be on his radar too.”
“Thanks, I’ll be on the lookout,” She promised worriedly.
Charles broke the moment with a jaw cracking yawn that Raven jumped on sharply, “Oh my god! I was wondering what you’re doing up so early! Did you call me in the middle of a walk of shame?!”
He blushed beet red at her question, thankful as ever that she couldn’t see him, “No! I-just! Goodnight!” he rushed off the phone and collapsed on the bed and back into sleep.
~~
“So, who is this man?” Jakob asked with a frown, after Erik finished updating his parents on their trip to the store.
“I have a private investigator on it now,” he assured them calmly.
“I don’t like this at all. This has the Eisenhardt’s written all over it,” Edie said grimly. “They can’t stand to let this go.”
Erik sighed, “We don’t know that, mama.”
“I know,” she said flatly. “And inside, you know it too.”
The sad thing was that she was right. Even Charles had admitted that he didn’t buy the man as a fan of his.
“Did he get a picture of any of you?” Jakob asked, worried.
“Not that I know of, but he could have been following us around for hours or even days. Who can say?”
“The P.I.” Edie cut in. “He can say, and you can take this to court and finally finish this.”
“Mama, you know it doesn’t work that way,” he said tiredly.
“I know they shouldn’t even qualify as family! They must be desperate to send a man to follow you around and take pictures of your handsome young man. That’s stalking,” she hissed, her mouth a thin, angry line.
“I know it’s-” he cut off sharply as an idea came to mind.
“I know that look,” Jakob said dryly. “No point talking to him anymore, I’m going to go find Nina. She always finishes a conversation.”
“Let him think, he may have the solution.” Edie said hopefully, so ready for this to finally be over and done with.
~~
Charles woke again a few hours later to a text from Erik saying they were spending the morning with his parents. He smiled at the thought of Nina being spoiled by her grandparents while Erik tried to wrap his head around all that had happened the day before.
He was glad to be a part of the team that kept her childhood safe and worry free. If anything, he’d like to be even more involved in their lives and fortunately that seemed to be happening naturally. He was already so fond of her; he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have cared for her since birth.
He took a long shower and made himself whole grain toast with eggs and bacon before settling down to read through his comments and emails.
His face broke into a wide grin when he saw how many of the comments referenced the growing number of childish art projects cluttering his refrigerator and countertops. Nina loved giving him gifts and he loved seeing them all around his kitchen as he went about making videos.
He made a mental note to read them to her the next time they were together. She loved that. After dawdling too long in the comments section and responding to several of the more technically minded questions, he turned to his business email.
There were several from the company, including one that approved of his idea for a video series of short, of kid friendly recipes. The idea was, of course, Nina inspired and he thought it would be a huge hit with the right marketing.
He was excited to bring the idea up to Erik and see what he thought and was already mentally composing a list of possible recipes as he rushed though the rest of his correspondence.
Then an email address he didn’t recognize caught his eye.
It wasn’t entirely unheard of for fans to send emails to this address, but they had a better chance of getting a reply in the comments section so it was fairly unusual.
He opened it, wondering if it wasn’t a time sensitive request from an ill fan or an offer to collaborate with another channel.
It was a threat.
Well, not in so many words but it was a disturbing retelling of the Lehnsherr’s past that painted Erik and even Magda as villains for keeping her parents from their beloved grandchild. He felt sick to his stomach reading the mad ramblings of the clearly unstable person on the other end of the email.
To Charles Xavier,
I hope this letter finds you well. You seem like a good man, a man who has a bright future ahead. As I’m sure you know, all that can change in an instant. My husband and I learned that the hard way when we lost our beloved daughter, Magda, to a car accident nearly two years ago.
She was beautiful and bright and we miss her every day. We will miss her and love her for the rest of our lives.
By some miracle she birthed a beautiful baby girl, Nina Diane, before she passed. This darling girl is the mirror image of our beloved Magda and it would brighten what is left of our lives to spend time with her and share memories and mementos of her mother.
Sadly we were never close with her as Magda was willful and often unintentionally cruel when it came to her treatment if us, her only parents. She kept us at arm’s length at the behest of her controlling, mentally and emotionally abusive husband. It has come to our attention that you are acquainted with this man, Erik Lehnsherr.
Be aware that he is not a good man. He destroyed our family by taking our daughter away from us and now denies us our legal rights to partial custody if our beloved grandchild. He is not the kind of man you want to associate with.
We are judged by the company we keep, it would be terrible for your bright future were Erik’s proclivities to come to light and damage your reputation as well.
He is not the man he claims to be. He is sick and cruel and delights in tormenting a heartbroken couple with no hope of ever seeing our beloved child again.
Please, we beg you from the bottom of our hearts to help us contact our granddaughter, Nina. If you’d only be willing to pass on pictures of her, or some of her artwork, or even tell her how we miss her, or pass on a note or a small gift from us, we would be forever in your debt.
Of course these things will have to be kept from her father, but surely she’s old enough now to be able to keep secrets about small things.
Even a simple call to Child Protective Services to voice these concerns about Nina’s welfare would be more than enough. Erik Lehnsherr is a powerful man and has influence with courts and the police. Our calls and concerns have been flagged as false and are now disregarded. We’ve been threatened with legal action if we call in another ‘false’ report so we dare not try even though we are at wit’s end with worry about our dearest grandchild.
If this story has spoken to your heart, please look within yourself to find and provide us with evidence that Erik Lehnsherr is an unfit father and that his family will continue to alienate ours from Nina’s life. The best place for Nina is with people who love her and the Lehnsherr’s aren’t those people. We would be happy to offer financial rewards to anyone who helped us in this matter.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope to hear from you soon.
A and R Eisenhardt
Below the text was a photo attachment that showed a smiling Magda holding Nina who looked barely more than a baby and was staring off screen. They were flanked on either side by a non descript older couple smiling brightly at the camera.
Charles frowned at the sight, taking the time to memorize their faces so he’d never be caught off guard if he saw them in person.
Then he picked up the phone and called Erik.