Chapter 10
10
brIAR
I panicked.
The plan when I got to Leo’s apartment was going to be to pack Elara up, drop her at Owen’s, and then go to my place and try to figure out if Tony broke in.
But something about Leo’s grand gesture made me panic.
I’ve never been a purse person. Never been a designer brand person. Never been someone money could buy. Well, unless it was for a job, and it was in the best interest of my daughter.
Walking away was stupid. So, so stupid.
And I’m not sure if I can go back and beg for the job back.
I cried three times on my way to my place, the old CD playing as background noise to the loud, ugly sobs that thunder through my body.
When did life get so complicated?
Pulling up to my apartment, I can immediately tell that something is wrong. The door looks ajar, and a few pieces of mail are dropped outside haphazardly, as if someone had left with a big pile and had missed that they had fallen loose.
I don’t know what’s going to greet me when I get into that place. Looking around, I can’t see Tony’s escalade anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t come in something else. Or maybe he had someone else do it.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly get out of my car, locking it up before making my way up my front steps.
The door pushes open, broken.
Elara and I moved in not that long ago, and although the place wasn’t exactly in great shape to begin with, the two of us made it our home.
A mix of furniture I found online for free and things Zara gifted me against my will, the place turned out beautiful. Warm, bright colors filled the space, the far wall packed with records and CDs I’ve been collecting since I was a kid and my dad passed down his collection to me.
It was the highlight of my day to come home to. Something that rooted me to my childhood. To better days. To feeling like one day things may not be so bad.
The sense of peace I got from looking at that wall every day is something I’ve had a hard time talking about, even in therapy.
And now it’s gone. Nothing but broken vinyl on the ground, reduced to nothing.
Grief holds me like a vice, gripping me in its cruel hands, my body unable to move.
I expected a lot out of him. Out of Tony. But I never expected he could be this.
I stand there until my legs start to ache, my heart thumping out of my chest, the door still open. When a breeze hits my back, a shiver running up my spine, I blink.
And blink again.
Grieving is a fickle thing. It never really leaves you. Not ever. All those moments you cherished for so long, or even all the moments you hated, can come back within a blink of an eye, haunting you every night until you succumb to the desperate need to channel that grief into anger.
It’s what you do with that anger that matters .
I close my eyes, counting to ten before forcing my feet to move in the direction of my bedroom, despite how heavy each step feels. It’s as if I’m wading through quicksand with cement blocks strapped to my feet, screaming for help but there’s no one around.
You can do this, I think. But I’m not sure I can.
When I reach my bedroom I find everything turned over. My dresser has been rummaged through, my bed stripped and torn up. There’s papers on my desk—tax information.
In Elara’s room, almost nothing is touched other than her toys, which are strewn about the room.
In the bathroom, the medicine cabinet is open, all of my pill bottles out on the sink.
Fuck.
My body loses feeling, and I barely make it to the couch before collapsing, my head in my hands.
“Briar?” a rough voice asks from behind me, making me jump.
I whip around, finding Leo standing at the door, his eyes wide, his face red as his brows dip more and more.
“What the hell happened here?” he asks angrily, coming around the couch to stand in front of me.
But I don’t answer. I can’t answer. Instead, I collapse on myself, my head on my knees as my shoulders shake.
The guilt of bringing Elara into this, the naivety of marrying that man in the first place crashes down on me even harder.
He sent someone to do this. He’d never come here himself, no. Why would he risk that? With all the money in the world, why would he risk getting his precious hands dirty?
He hired someone to come here and harass me. Whether they thought I was going to be here or not, I’m not sure. Would it have been worse if I were here? Or would they have given me a warning and left? Was all of this because I wasn’t there ?
They’re all questions that I’ll never have the answer to, and that’s okay. There’s no world in which I should want those answers; not really.
“Hey,” Leo says as he crouches down in front of me, his hand on my shoulder.
“Go away, Leo.”
I can sense him shaking his head, can feel his hand drift up to cup my cheek.
I look up, meeting his green eyes. “Did he do this?” Leo asks, and I wonder how much he really knows about Tony.
The only thing I can do is nod.
With tight lips, Leo looks around, taking it all in.
“I’m going to call the cops, okay? Just wait here.”
Panic surges through me. “Leo don’t do that,” I plead, grabbing his wrist as he stands to leave.
His brows furrow. “Why not? That’s the next step, Briar. Your place was literally broken into.”
“He’s friends with all of them, Leo. All of them. He knows people. You call them and it puts me in danger.”
His face turns absolutely feral. “Did he ever put his hands on you?”
I quickly shake my head. “It was never physical. Only mental.”
“That’s just as bad, Briar.”
It is.
“Just please, Leo.”
His eyes search my face, trying to find something I can’t put my finger on. “Did he take anything?”
“Some papers. I’m not sure which. There’s some financial information missing. And they went through my medications. I think there’s a few missing from back when I was on anxiety medication.”
“He’s going to use that against you if he takes you to court. That’s why they did this. They’re looking for dirt on you,” he pauses, his eyes closing as he takes a deep breath. When he opens them, he looks around again before his eyes are back on me.
“I really hate to push this. But please trust me with this, okay?”
I don’t want to.
But for some reason I feel like he’ll do what’s best for me.
So I nod.
It’s two hours before the cops show up, their lights flashing in the early evening sky.
Leo greets them, and if I could take a picture of their surprised faces seeing the quarterback for the Baltimore Cobras in this dump, I would have.
“My friend’s place was broken into and messed with. I need you guys to go through and document it. Investigate it.”
One of the officers is a short stocky man with a goatee, his eyes beady as they zoom around my apartment before finally settling on me.
Sam.
But Leo isn’t stupid. Following his gaze, his eyes land on me, and a second later, he snaps at the officer. “Hey, you understand me, correct? I’ll be calling tomorrow to make sure everything was reported correctly. It would be a shame if it wasn’t,” he says, his voice low.
Sam is one of Tony’s good friends, and his wife happens to hate me. I’m not sure why. Never really found out. My working theory is that my ex was banging her, and Sam is too stupid to figure it out.
But either way, I’m not his favorite.
The two officers rear back. “Is that a threat, Warner?” Sam asks, his tiny eyes narrowed .
“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”
Oh my God, Leo is going to get arrested and I’m going to be the reason why. Leo doesn’t need any more bad press. He really doesn’t need to be arrested. Especially not for defending me.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, getting up from the couch. I slowly walk to him, placing my hand on his arm.
He nearly flinches, goosebumps pricking at his skin.