Chapter 14
Berkley sat up from a deep sleep, adrenaline punching through her as her house alarm pierced the air.
Trying not to panic, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand, ready to call the cops, then Apollo strode into her room, pistol in hand. He held a finger to his mouth and directed her to the bathroom.
“Don’t turn off the alarm,” he ordered.
She hadn’t been planning to, even though the shrill tone was taking over everything to the point she could barely hear his instructions. Before she could respond, he raced out as she crouched down in the bathtub, heart pounding.
Her phone rang, the name of her security company on the caller ID. She answered it but couldn’t make out anyone on the other line so hung up. She called 911, but also couldn’t hear anything so hung up on them too.
The cops would be on the way now regardless, but all she could focus on was her brother. She had a pistol in a safe in her closet—a gift from Apollo years ago—but there was no way she could risk getting it now.
She knew her brother was smart and trained but fear bled into her bones as she imagined every horrible scenario. Someone had been skilled enough to abduct her from her own home in the middle of the night. Her brother wasn’t infallible. What if someone got the drop on him?
As the seconds ticked by, she crept out of the bathtub and grabbed a couple things from underneath her sink as a weapon. A big-ass can of hairspray and a lighter. Not much, but she could mess someone up with them. Or at least take them off guard with a big burst of flame straight in their face.
Then suddenly everything went quiet—only to be followed by a loud crash.
Heart in her throat, she jumped up and raced out of her room. Slowing her pace, she eased down the hallway.
“You’re replacing this.” That was Apollo.
“I couldn’t get the door open.” Now Nick.
“So you just kicked it in?” Apollo demanded.
Okay, if they were talking, then they were fine. She hurried down and found the two of them in the foyer, her front door kicked in. Apparently by Nick. The frame was splintered and the table behind the door was cracked, the knickknacks on it scattered on the wood flooring in the entryway.
Nick moved fast, covering the distance between them in seconds as he tucked his weapon away.
In the distance she heard at least one siren.
“What are you doing here?” She looked past him at the destroyed doorframe. He’d said he’d be staying in his truck across the street, but she hadn’t thought he’d actually stay the whole night. Maybe just an hour or two max.
“Your boyfriend here kicked in the door,” Apollo grumbled without much heat.
She ignored the boyfriend comment—so did Nick.
“I saw someone running away from your house when the alarm system went off,” he said. “I chased them to the backyard but they were fast, fast. Jumped the fence and I was more worried about you, so I came back.”
“You could’ve come in the side door. It’s the one your would-be intruder entered from,” Apollo said, snark in his tone.
Her gut twisted at the knowledge that someone had broken into her place again. She’d known it was a possibility but…whoever was after her was bold. And that was even more dangerous.
“I obviously didn’t know that…” Nick took a breath and looked Berkley over in a clinical fashion. “Are you hurt at all?”
“No. But someone broke in?” The sirens were louder now and she wanted answers before the cops arrived.
Normally she had a thirty-second delay on her security system, but when she’d changed the code, she’d also changed the delay to only five seconds after last night.
Now she was glad she had. “Was it a man or woman?” She had cameras and needed to check the feed.
“I couldn’t tell. They were tall, athletic…and fast. Whoever it was had on a thick-looking puffer jacket. Dark color. And puffy ski-style pants. Under oath, I couldn’t say if it was a woman wearing bigger clothes or a bulky man. It was too dark, and like I said, they were sprinting.”
“They picked your lock.” Apollo’s voice was grim.
She headed toward the door she used to enter her house most days. Right next to her parking area. She didn’t have an actual garage, but a little paved area with a covering. She lived in an older area and garages weren’t as common in her neighborhood. “Did you turn off the alarm?”
“Yeah,” Apollo said. “But you can see that they tried to enter your old code.”
She read the messages on the dashboard’s inbox stating that she’d input the wrong code twice.
Obviously not her, but someone had known the old code.
Which explained how someone had taken her last night.
Unfortunately that list of people was long—and that was on her for not being more vigilant.
The law enforcement sirens were so loud they had to be in front of her house by now.
Nick disappeared as she looked at her brother.
Her stomach tightened as she spoke, needing to say this part out loud.
“Someone who had this code must have tried to enter it. Right? That’s the only explanation.
Someone in my life tried to break into my house.
Not a stranger. Your truck isn’t in the driveway so they must have thought I was alone.
When they didn’t disarm the system within the time frame, they clearly ran.
” She wasn’t sure where Nick had parked but she was guessing it wasn’t in her driveway either.
If Henry hadn’t been dead, he would have been her first suspect for breaking in.
She didn’t actually think he would, but on her list of people who hated her, he was number one.
So yeah, he’d have been at the top of it.
As it was…she still couldn’t think of someone who’d done this.
And that was disturbing. Hell, beyond terrifying.
Some person was out there who hated her enough to commit murder…
to try to set her up for murder. To break into her house, bold as you please.
“I can’t stay here right now,” she said more to herself as she pulled up her phone to look at her camera feeds.
She had a few different exterior cameras, but before she could even press play on one of them, Apollo, big brother that he was, grabbed her phone and started scrolling through the feeds.
She hated when he took over, but knew to pick her battles. “Your side camera isn’t working.”
She looked at the screen, saw the little square was grayed out and read Camera is offline. Great. Just freaking great.
Before she could respond, Nick strode in with two uniformed police officers in tow.
He’d probably explained some things to them, but she was definitely going to have to make a statement. She wasn’t sure if she’d have to actually go down to the station for this kind of statement. Either way, she also needed to pack, because she wasn’t coming back here until she knew she was safe.