Knova tends to be direct, so I do the same. “You don’t strike me as someone with a lot of self-doubt.”
Her laugh is bitter. “No? Look, I know our circumstances are different, but I have plenty of experience standing on the outside, looking in. I lost someone a few years ago. Someone I—” Her voice wavers. “Someone who really mattered to me. It messed me up pretty badly.” She folds her arms over her chest despite the warm night. “Do you ever feel like everyone else’s life is normal, and they get the luxury of getting upset over inconsequential bullshit, while you’re dragging a millstone of grief around your neck?”
“Oh.” I grip the strap of my purse tighter. “Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”
“Take my word for it: we want you around, and we’re not going to throw you away. Alright?” She unlocks the gate to the shared courtyard and holds it open for me.
“Thank you, Knova. And thanks for inviting me tonight.”
Despite the weight of her earlier words, she gives me a jaunty little salute. “Anytime, girly-pop. See you soon.”
I fish my keys out of my purse, lost in thought. When it comes to Tristan and the Venom, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For things to get bad, or for some new and unforeseen disaster to strike. What would happen if I stopped bracing for disaster and just relaxed? What if I trusted that my new life bears almost no relation to the old one?
My phone buzzes. Tristan’s photo fills the screen. I smile down at his contact even as I walk the half block to our condo and reach for the doorknob.
But when the key turns in the lock, something isn’t right. My phone slips out of my hand when I realize that the front door is unlocked, but I know I locked it before I left.
I yank it open before I give myself a chance to consider what this might mean. If someone broke in, they might be waiting inside.
I need to call the police. I need to call Tristan. Maybe even Uncle Dante. I need help, now.
I bend to retrieve my phone, which buzzes again as soon as I scoop it up. I answer without looking at the screen and press it to my ear. “Tristan, the condo, someone broke in…”
“Who could have done that, I wonder?” Luca’s voice spills from the speakers, cold and cruel. “I thought those Serenity Shores condos had such good security. What with all the professional athletes living there.”
I bolt into the living room. The place has been tossed, but not in the deliberate way I’d expect. Nobody went through this place looking for valuables; my father taught me the difference between taking somebody’s belongings and sending somebody a message. Something about this is off, though. Things that I’d have expected Luca to smash if he were threatening me are untouched, but furniture has been kicked aside or overturned.
Like he was looking for something. Something small. Something that was good at hiding.
“No, no, no, no,” I moan, an endless litany of denial, even though I already know what Luca wanted. It’s the same thing he’s always wanted. Control. And there’s no better way to control me than to threaten the ones I love.
“Got your little rat right here,” Luca says. I hear a chittering sound in the background on his end.
“Don’t you dare hurt him.”
“Or what?” Luca chuckles. “Trust me, the little shit is fine. He bit me, though. I’m thinking about how to pay him back.”
“He bit you because he was scared!” My legs carry me to my room, though I already know he won’t be there. My room is mostly untouched, though the carrier is missing.
“As he should be.”
“How did you even get in here?” I drop to the edge of the bed and cradle my face in my hands.
“The usual way. I found a guy on the security night shift who had a gambling debt, and I offered him five grand to access the service doors and turn off the complex’s cameras. The rest was easy: a cheap Wi-Fi signal jammer for the ring cam and the baby monitor, a lock-pick gun, come and go through the loading dock… the usual.”
I hiccup back a sob. “Why?”
“Aw, Minnie, you know why. I have what you want. And you’re what I want. You’re mine. I’ve got plans for you, and I’m not going to let some stupid puck monkey steal you away.”
I yank my hair so hard that my scalp stings. Luca doesn’t want me. He despises me. He sees me as a pawn, or a prize, and he’s never even pretended to love me. But that’s not the point. I’m an object, but I’m his object. He’s like a spoiled brat who refuses to share his toys, who can’t even see me as a person.
“I hate you.”
“I know, baby, but you’re going to pack a bag and come home. Because if you don’t, I’m going to take it out on your pet rat. If you stay there with him, I’ll send that rat back to you via FedEx piece by piece.”
He means it. He’ll hurt Kepler if I don’t obey. Maybe even kill him. Despite what the movies would have you believe, it’s tough to make people disappear, as long as there’s someone who will go looking for them. A ferret, though? Even if I could prove what Luca did, what police officer’s going to give a single shit about an exotic pet?
I can’t leave Kepler in his possession, or I’ll never see him again.
