They walked up the steps hand in hand but the moment they stepped out of the stairwell, Crois stopped up short.
There, standing in front of his door was Veronica Catalano.
She had her back to them, but that didn’t matter.
He knew the woman’s form.
He’d seen it in nightmares enough to have it memorized.
He held onto Harmony’s hand and stopped her from walking forward.
She came up short as well and turned to look at him.
He might have been able to manage things if the door to the stairwell had been oiled or treated with WD-40. But the maintenance staff had forgotten it again and right before Crois started to turn around and take Harmony to her apartment, the heavy metal door clanged shut.
Veronica turned around and her eyes found him in a heartbeat.
The smile on her face brightened and then darkened again when she saw Harmony standing beside him.
He knew what they looked like.
A couple.
He was wearing a tux and Harmony looked like garden goddess in her loose fitting dress with layers of lace and flowery flowing fabrics.
If someone put them on a cake they’d look like a wedding topper which was where he hoped they were going.
The woman at his door looked like she might actually be able to breathe fire, even without a match.
“What the hell is she doing here?” Veronica pointed a dagger sharp nail at Harmony and Crois immediately stepped forward putting himself in front of her.
“We were at my partner’s wedding.”
Veronica’s frown turned her whole expression stormy. “If you needed a date, baby,” she was practically purring at him, “I would have gone.”
Her emotional ups and downs were like whiplash.
“I didn’t want to take you.”
Veronica reeled back like she’d be slapped, hard, across her face.
Before she said a word, she even lifted a hand to lay it against her face. “You need to be with someone like me.” She shook her head, looking at him as if she felt bad for him. “What can a girl like her do for you? What pull does she have?”
“I don’t have to explain my personal life to you, Miss Catalano.”
She almost snarled at the name he used to talk to her, but she was already pushing the lines of propriety. Knowing that she’dalready shown up to his precinct and gotten in Kate’s face, he’d been hoping she would have learned her lesson.
But he wondered if Veronica had just been allowed to push the lines in other aspects of her life.
Crois wanted to take out his phone and call 911. He doubted that Veronica lived in his building. She’d managed to get in without a key.
“Who are you?” Veronica took a few steps closer, lifting her chin. In the light of the hallway it make her chin look more pointy than anything else. “Who do you think you are, you little bitch?”
“Hey!”
Crois took a step forward, but Harmony grabbed his arm and pulled him to her side while she stepped up to stand with him.
“I’m Harmony Morgan. You might not remember me, but the night you drove drunk, I was part of the EMT crew that came to treat you.”
