Faith glances at me. “You really haven’t had the best example of a stable marriage or family, have you?” she murmurs.
I shake my head. Although if I had to dig deep, I’d say that Levi’s death impacted me far more as an adult than my father’s betrayal. “There’s so much more,” I admit. “But I’m not really up to talking about it now,” I say, bracing myself for her to push harder for more information.
“I respect that,” she says gently. “Everything in its time.”
I blink, shocked that she doesn’t ask for more answers when I know how curious she must be. Yet she respects my barriers, and for that I am grateful.
“Dinner!” Gino says, showing up just in time as far as I’m concerned.
We enjoy a delicious gnocchi along with our fried zucchini and homemade cannoli for dessert. By the time we finished eating, Faith finally looks like she’s drooping where she sits, exhaustion beginning to catch up with her.
“Are you ready to go home and get some sleep?” I ask.
She nods. “But I was wondering if we could stop by my apartment? I forgot to pick up some extra work shirts, and I’m too tired to wash and dry this one tonight.”
“Of course.” I’ll get her in and out of there quickly, so she can go back to my place and get some sleep.
But when we arrive at her building and walk up the darkened stairway, we discover her door has been taped up because someone has clearly kicked it open. The wood has splintered, and there is yellow tape across the door.
“Oh my God!” Faith reaches for one of the strips, obviously determined to get inside, but I grab her around the waist and pull her back.
“Hang on. We have no idea what happened. Do you have a landlord?”
Before I can answer, a bald man with a large beer belly comes striding toward us from the other side of the hall. “It’s about time you came back,” he says, scowling and clearly pissed off.
“Mr. Donovan, what happened?” Faith asks.
“The neighbors said they heard a noise in the middle of the night, and the next day your door was shattered.”
“Nobody came out to check on the unusual sound?” I ask in disbelief. My gut instincts about this neighborhood were spot on.
The heavyset man shakes his head. “You’re going to pay to fix the door, young lady.”
I step into the man’s personal space. “That’s Ms. Lancaster to you. And how about you back off. Did you call the cops?”
“Not my job, not my problem.”
“It’ll be your problem if any of her things are missing and no one reported it. She’s not fixing your door, either. That’s your goddamn job.” I push past the other man and gingerly remove the tape put up over her door.
“Jason, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it later,” Faith says.
Donovan shakes his head and, grumbling, walks back the way he came.
I hold her hand and lead the way into an apartment whose contents were turned upside down and ripped to shreds.
CHAPTER FIVE
Faith
Ihold onto my composure by a thread, but I’m determined not to let Colton get to me. I’ll survive this like I have everything else he’s done to me. Through sheer grit and determination.
I step over the sofa pillows he tossed onto the floor, the books he flipped through and ripped, and the contents of drawers left open that he rifled through. I’m not sure why he thought I’d be stupid enough to leave money around the house, but that is a desperate addict’s thought process.
“Are you okay?” Jason asks, his hand in mine, his body a solid presence by my side.
“Yes.” I straighten my shoulders. “There is nothing here for him to find.”
“At a glance, is anything missing?”
