Page 5 of Crowned By the Mafia Billionaires

I grit my teeth, hating to have to say it to her. “Your apartment is trashed.”

She tries to get out again, and I put my hand on her thigh. “Audrey, you can’t stay here. You’re coming home with me.”

For the first time, there’s real fear in her eyes. “Honey, it’s going to be okay.”

She stares up at her open front door. “I wanna go in. I wanna see it.”

I pull my phone up and hit the speed dial for Bennett. He answers immediately. “Everything okay?”

I speak into the phone. “Uh, I’m sitting in the parking lot of Audrey’s apartment with her. John and Tony went in, and the apartment has been trashed.” I look over at my passenger. “I’m going to take Audrey in to salvage some of her stuff.”

I can already tell that Bennett is on the move. I hear the keys jingle and the slam of a door and then the start of his SUV. “Is Audrey okay?”

I know what he must be feeling. If I didn’t have my eyes on her right next to me, I would be feeling the same. “She’s okay. I'm with her.”

“Don’t let her out of your sight. I’m on my way.”

Normally, I’d give him shit for telling me how to do my job, but I get where he’s coming from. “On it. See you in a few.”

I hang up the phone and look at Audrey, who still seems to be trying to process everything. She shakes her head. “I need to go in and get my things.”

I have no idea what the inside of her place looks like, but I do know she’s not going to let me stop her from going in. “Stop. Let me come around, and I’ll go in with you.”

She wants to argue with me, but she surprises me by nodding.

I get out of the car and look around before walking to her side and helping her out. She’s silent as we walk down the sidewalk, up the stairs, and into her apartment. I knew it would be bad. But I didn’t know it would be this bad.

Audrey stops with her mouth open and stares at the inside of her once cozy apartment. “Why?” she asks as she moves into the room. “Why would someone do this?”

I don’t want to tell her that we’re pretty sure it was her father’s men. They were obviously looking for something.

She grimaces at the writing on the wall. In big letters it says TRAITOR. I put my hand on her back and steer in her the opposite direction. “Let’s grab what we can of yours and get out of here.”

She walks into her bedroom. I find a bag in the closet and am disgusted when I see that all of her clothes have been cut, ripped, and destroyed. I’m not sure what she needs the bag for, but she may want to grab something.

I hold it open. “Let me know what you wanna take and I’ll help you.”

She looks around the room, and everything is a mess. I grip the bag in my hands. “Or we can just buy you all new stuff.”

Very calmly, she starts moving the nightstand. I help her, not sure what’s going on. When she tries to step up onto it, I stop her. “What are you doing?”

She blinks at me, and it’s scary to see the look on her face. She looks so defeated. She points up at the ceiling. “I have a jewelry box… and other things up there. Things I didn’t want my dad or anyone else to find.”

I put a hand on her to stop her from climbing. “Here. Let me.”

I climb onto the nightstand and lift the tile out of the way. I peek inside, and sure enough, there is a backpack and jewelry box. I take them out and hand them to her before climbing back down. She lets out a sigh of relief. It’s as if all this materialistic stuff doesn’t matter and all her important possessions are contained in a jewelry box and a backpack.

“That’s all I need.”

I wipe my hands together to get the dust off, and Audrey puts the jewelry box into the bag and then slings it over her shoulders. She pulls out her phone. “There’s a shelter a few blocks away. I’m going to go there.”

CHAPTER 4

AUDREY

“Over my fuckin’ dead body.”

I jump and spin around.