She was willing to bet that such a reaction was what Tommy had been after when he had it boxed up. Frightened women, panicked women were easier to control. With her guard down, she might make a mistake and he would take advantage of that as quickly as he could.
No, she told herself. Not this time.
The panic was there in the back of her mind, her heart racing so fast, she almost expected it to beat right out of her chest; any control she clawed back vanished in the face of their concern. Grace struggled to regain her composure. It was already a mistake to tell them as much as she did. She couldn’t confess any more. It would only put the De Angelises in danger.
Bad things tended to happen to those who actually believed she was in trouble, or who offered to help her get away.
There was that nice cop who took her statement the first time Tommy broke into her apartment and left his “gifts”. She was still naive back then and didn’t realize that, with his wealth and his lust for control, Tommy would already have a few officers on his payroll. Officer Daniels might’ve wanted to help her for real, but there were plenty of his buddies who wouldn’t.
When his patrol car was shot at and Officer Daniels ended up getting hit, Grace stopped calling him for updates on her case. It was only a flesh wound, a graze when the bullet ricocheted, but she knew better.
It was a warning. And she heeded it.
Her next door neighbor Monica at her last place? A sweet motherly figure who worked as a domestic violence counselor before she retired. It only took a couple of weeks after Grace first left Tommy before Monica took Grace to the side and offered to help her.
So grateful that someone else believed her, Grace confessed everything and allowed Monica to help her create an escape plan. She was the one who registered Grace’s car in her name, and who promised she would do everything she could to support her.
Tommy got wind of it because, of course, he did. She might have been able to fool herself that the death of Monica’s tabby cat—who, as an indoor cat, never went outside, yet had “gotten out” only to be struck by a car—was an accident. Except, as one of the second packages he left behind, she received a c
at collar with Buttons’ name engraved on the tag.
The second package was always, always the threat.
She thought again about the cow heart on her dresser and felt the color drain from her face.
My heart is in your hands.
God damn it! She didn’t want his fucking heart! Why wouldn’t he let her give it back?
Closing her eyes for a brief moment, shaking her head to clear it of things she long ago accepted she couldn’t change, Grace took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she hoped her neighbors would drop it.
Tommy already got into the complex—and her apartment—once before. One way or another, he had eyes and ears everywhere. He could be listening in right now.
It wasn’t that she wouldn’t involve them. She couldn’t.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I—I didn’t mean to bother you guys.”
“You didn’t,” Tessa assured her. “What happened? Are you okay?”
The bloody heart flashed in front of her eyes again. Though she wanted nothing more than to hurl, Grace pushed the memory aside, forcing herself to calm down. Once she was sure she could speak again without flipping out, she tried to twist her features into a look of embarrassment.
“I feel so stupid. I… I saw a rat. That’s why I was screaming.”
“A rat,” echoed Lucas. “On the sixth floor.”
“Yes.”
His eyebrow rose, a dark slash in his handsome face. Okay, so he wasn’t buying it, either. “Impressive. It knows how to climb and pick locks.”
She chuckled weakly. “I know, right? No wonder I wasn’t expecting it.”
“Mmm.”
Lucas might not believe her excuse, but it seemed as if he was willing to go along with it. Instead of pushing it, as Tessa seemed about to, he gave Grace another telling look that said he knew the rat story was utter bullshit, then said, “If I saw a rat in our home, I’d probably scream, too.”
Tessa lifted her head up, looking at her husband in surprise. “You really think this is about a rat, Luc?”
“I trust that Grace knows the reason why she screamed. I’m sure she’s aware that, if there was something we could do to help her, we would.”