Chapter 38

As soon as I stepped into the apartment, a shard of glass shattered beneath my shoe. I looked down and saw that it had

belonged to the large lamp that had been on the small table near the door.

“What on Earth!” I stumbled inside, almost tripping over the debris on the floor. I heard a set of keys jingling behind me and

whipped around, my senses on high

alert.

Aria was standing in the doorway, gawking at the display. Her eyes met mine, wide and perplexed.

“I just got back from work...” she said softly, taking it all in. Her eyes scanned the room and her face twisted up. “What the hell

happened here?”

“Someone broke in!” I shouted, rushing toward her. There was broken glass everywhere. The photos on the wall had been

knocked down, leaving trails of wood chips and torn paper.

The couch had been slashed and the cotton was spilling from every own slit. Like everything else, the kitchen was in shambles.

There wasn’t a piece of dishware that didn’t look shattered.

Aria took hold of my arms and clung to my side, fortunately more alert than before. Her wide eyes darted across the room. “Who

could've done this?”

I already knew the answer to that. “He just won't give up.”

Aria narrowed her eyes. “Who's ‘he? You know who did this?”

I bit

my lip and looked to the side. “I just assumed it was a man that did this,” I said, and she looked far from convinced.

“You said he won't give up,” Aria pointed out. “Which implies that there have been other instances. Who is he?”

When it looked like she wasn’t giving up any time soon, I sighed and plopped down on my bed. Aria sat beside me. I didn’t catch

her being serious all too often, but she was at her scariest when she was.

“I think it might have been Bruce,” I said carefully, unable to meet her gaze. “He’d been sending me texts for a while, but I didn’t

think he'd

go this far.

7

Aria stood abruptly, her hands clenched into fists. “Bruce? As in the Bruce, the scum bag that calls himself your family!?!”

I nodded weakly and she slapped a hand on her forehead, turning away.

“How could I not have known?? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to freak out!” I said, my voice cracking with the onset of tears. “Hell, I was freaking out so much, and I didn’t

know what to do. I didn’t even

expect to hear from him again!”

Aria huffed, gesturing to the whole room with a wave of her arm. “Well, he’s made his return pretty clear.”

I bent over and hugged my torso. His return was the last thing I needed, and he made it evident in the most destructive way

possible. It felt like sanity kept slipping away from me at every turn in life.

Aria took out her phone and I grabbed her wrist in reflex.

“What are you doing?”

Aria‘snatched her hand away and frowned at me. “Calling the police, obviously. Whatever you two have going on, it doesn’t look

safe.”

I watched helplessly as she dialed the number and held the phone to her ear. It took a few rings before the operator was on the

line.

“Ah, yes, I would like to report a break in.” Aria stepped out of the room, leaving me to curl into a ball and sob on top of the

mattress.

This was bad. He’d already ruined my day just from leaving a letter. I guess he figured one warning wasn’t enough.

“That would be good. Thank you.” Aria came back into the room and stopped with. her hands on her hips. “They said they'd be

here soon.”

I sniffed and wiped my nose. “Okay, good.”

There was a stretch of silence before her harsh stance weakened. After a moment, she sighed and sat beside me. She rubbed

my arm and pulled the hair away from my face.

2/6

Il

Chapter 38

“Hey, come on now.” She pulled my head into her lap and started running her fingers through my hair. My sobs grew louder, as I

didn’t have the strength to hold them back any longer.

The cops arrived about twenty minutes later. Aria led me out into the living room and sat me down on the couch before

answering the door. There was a male and female officer on the other side, both looking too exhausted to be on duty.

“Hello, miss,” said the male officer. “I’m officer Brody, and this is Officer Hills. We got a call from this address saying that there

had been a break in?”

Aria nodded. “Yes, that was me. Come in.”

She guided them inside and showed them around the apartment. They took note of the damages and asked her questions along

the way.

“Do you know if this person was after something?” asked Officer Hills. “Any valuables?”

Aria looked over at me and shrugged. “Evie, you might have to answer this one.

The cops turned their attention to me, and I shrunk into the couch, wishing I could just disappear. I pulled my knees to my chest

and shook my head. “Nothing valuable. Just...an upset family member.”

“Has this family member done something like this before?” asked Brody. “If so, this may become a dangerous pattern.”

“This is the first time he’s done this,” I answered.

The officers exchanged glances with one another, then looked around the room. Hills offered me a look of sympathy.

“We don’t see much around her that incriminates him. It might be in your best interest to consider moving somewhere safer

anyway. This part of town’s pretty sketchy,” she told us.

I couldn't help but scoff at her suggestion.

“Do you have some place you can stay for now? Somewhere safe?” asked Brody.

Ill

Aria nodded. “We have a friend near here. He wouldn't mind if we crashed.”

“Good.” Officer Brody tucked away his notepad and motioned for Hills to follow. He opened the front door and looked back at Aria

and me. “We'll bring this info down to the station, see if we can get more about this guy’s whereabouts.”

“Sure,” I said bitterly, flicking a tuft of cotton off the sofa cushion.

Once they left, Aria marched away from the door and into her room. She pulled out a suitcase and slammed it onto the hallway

floor before heading into my room. shortly after.

“Come on,” she said, practically out of breath. “We need to get out of here.”

I didn’t really have the motivation to move, but staying in that apartment at that point was out of the question. At a sloth’s pace, I

removed myself from the couch and shuffled to my room to gather my things. Three days‘ worth of clothes seemed like enough,

but Aria was stuffing her suitcase like she was staying the whole week.

After packing our things, I’helped Aria move our bags into the car. Since she was still far from sobriety, she let me drive all the

way to Lucas‘ apartment. He lived in a much finer place, which had a gate for security purposes.

We walked up with our luggage and hit the call button to Lucas‘ apartment. As late as it was, I didn’t expect him to answer.

However, after a few seconds, he picked up.

“Who's ringing?” he asked between yawns.

“Lucas!” Aria said into the speaker. “We’re so sorry! We tried calling, but you wouldn’t answer. Could we stay over for the night?”

He muttered something unintelligible, though he sounded pretty irritated. Eventually, he did give in. The gates opened and we

quickly slipped inside.

Lucas was already standing outside of his apartment by the time we entered the hall. His hair was ruffled, and his eyes were

squinted as he stood scratching his side.

“You're a saint!” said Aria, rushing to pull him into a hug. He merely pouted at her.

“I ought to be crowned. What’s with you two?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. He then looked down and spotted the suitcases in our

hands and he was suddenly more alert. He waved us inside and shut the door behind him before locking it tight.

Chapter in

“What happened?” Lucas asked, switching the lights on as he strolled past us.

Aria didn’t waste time. “Lucas, someone broke into our place. Can we stay with you tonight, please?”

I added, “Yeah, it’s just for one night. We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t an emergency.”

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, his expression becoming strained. “What? When?”

“While we were gone, I guess,” I told him. “The police investigated, but they couldn’t pin it on anybody. Either, we didn’t think it

was Safe to stay there.”

“Oh,” Lucas cooed, resting a hand on my knee. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Of course, you can stay here tonight. I'll do everything I

can.

I sighed and wiped my tear-filled eyes. “Thank you, Lucas. You have no idea how much this means to us.”

Aria smiled. “Yeah, we really appreciate it.”

Lucas waved us off. “Don’t mention it. You’re my friends, and I'd do anything to help. Make yourselves at home. I'll get some

extra blankets and pillows.”

Lucas stood up and headed over to a hall closet to retrieve some blankets and pillows. He brought them over and tossed them

onto the couch beside us.

“We owe you big time, Lucas,” I said.

Lucas shook his head as he grabbed a few tissues from the box on the mantle. He brought them over to me and I thanked him.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said. “Friends help each other, right?

I started to cry again, and this time they were both surrounding me to offer comfort. Aria shushed me and smoothed down my

hair, and Lucas offered to make tea. We were able to settle in quickly for the night, with Lucas offering to stay up and protect us.

While it was a wonderful sentiment on his part, it didn’t help me rest any easier. All in one day, Timothy had pretty much been cut

out of my life and Bruce was

inching

he way

into it..

20 Thu, 21 Mar GG