“I… ugh, are you always so bossy?” I whine.
“Yes.”
“Ram!” I yell out of frustration.
“Look. If you’re thinking that either Xavier or I will let you go back to your apartment alone after what happened, then you’re even stupider than I give you credit for.”
My eyes narrow at him, but he has a point.
“What do you know, Ram?”
“I know everything, Malynda. Now finish your breakfast. Take your time. I have nothing else to do today but keep you safe.”
He turns on the sink and drowns out any protestation I might have made.
***
There’s a strip of yellow tape outside my apartment door. Crime scene. It seems over the top, but I remember that Xavier was here, talking to the police. So, I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less. He organized a bald 7-foot middle-aged babysitter for me, after all.
I take a breath before I go inside.
Jade is right.
This is a violation. I know I can never go back to living here now.
All I can see are his fingerprints over everything he touched. Tainting it. The air is poisoned with his breath. I catch myself holding mine as I walk through the apartment, careful not to touch anything he’s touched.
“I won’t be long, I just need to grab some clothes,” I say to Ram. He just nods, his lips stretched tightly over his teeth, his jaw twitching as he takes in the scene.
They did a really good job of destroying this place. They. Huh. Him.
I feel my stomach turn and I swallow the reflex to retch, as I always do in the handful of times I’ve allowed myself to think about the attack since it happened.
“Focus,” I say to myself. “Grab a bag and some clothes and let’s got out of here as fast as we can.” I make a mental note of some other things I will need that I will send my assistant to get. I don’t want to be here a second longer than I have to.
Ram is waiting for me outside when I emerge from the apartment, cellphone to his ear.
“She’s okay, do you want to talk to her?” I hear him ask the person on the other end. I hold my breath, but then he just taps the phone and slides it into his pocket.
“Oh,” he says, finally seeing me standing there with my suitcase. “Um, that was Xavier, he was just checking up on you. He… er, he had to go into a meeting.”
I just nod.
I never expected anything different.
“Where to next?” Ram says, with a forced smile.
“Work, it’s time to get back to work.”
And onto a new chapter of my life.
***
“Isabella! Where have you been? You look a wreck!” Cameron exclaims as soon as I step into our office floor. The sight of his familiar and friendly face breaks through the last layer of bravado I have, and I fall into his arms, the tears bursting from my eyes like a broken hydrant.
I can feel Ram looking behind me and I turn to him. “I’ll be fine here. You don’t have to stay.”
He just nods and drops the suitcase on the floor and heads back to the elevator. Something tells me he won’t be far though, and I have to admit that it gives me some comfort.
“Oh, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Cameron says, taking my hand and leading me to my office, closing the door behind us. “Why haven’t you answered any of my calls, I almost sent the police to your apartment!”
Something about the image of the police showing up and seeing the crime scene tape makes me laugh through my tears, and it comes out in an unattractive snort.
“Oh my god, isn’t that always the way? Police showing up when it’s too late.”
I catch a flicker of confusion ripple across Cameron’s forehead.
“What are you talking about?”
I just look up at him, the full impact of what is happening crashing down on me, the sobs returning and I can’t breathe.
“Shhh, I got you, I got you, Iz,” he coos as I fall back into his arms, the vibrations in his chest comforting me.
It’s almost ten minutes before I can finally speak.
“He… he’s back, Cam.”
“Who? Who is back, honey?”
“Him… the… my dance teacher.”
“What?” Cameron jumps to his feet, he knows. He knows what this means to me. “How… how do you know?”
“Yesterday, we went to my apartment…”
“Wait, who is ‘we’?”
“Xavier. Xavier was with me. He took me to… um, pick up some things from my apartment and when we got there, everything was trashed. It… my apartment’s just… just a mess, Cameron.” Relaying it to him is making me walk through it again. I need to get through this fast.
“Oh, Iz. That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, I thought… I thought it was a robbery at first but, then I found… he left a message.” I have to take a breath, reliving the shock of seeing an object from that night in my hand after all these years.
“A message? What did it say?”
“It said, ‘I’m back, did you miss me?'” I shudder, just saying the words. “I’m scared, Cam. I don’t ever want to go back to my apartment again.”
“I know, don’t worry. I’m going to keep you safe. You’ll stay with me until… well, until we figure out what we need to do.”
“I’m… staying with Jade for the moment.”
“Well, that’s very nice but… I’ve been here with you before, remember?”
I nod. I remember. Life is making it hard to forget.
Cam reaches out to squeeze my hand, and in that moment I’m grateful for him, more than I ever have been. He opens his mouth to say something, but a loud shout interrupts him.
“I’m sorry, sir!! I need you to wait outside while I call her! Sir!”
The door flings open, and suddenly Kaine is standing in my office, Ram looming behind him.
He nods at Cameron, before turning to me.
“I need to know everything that’s going on. Right now.”
Cameron jumps to his feet, hands out in front.
“Hey, you can’t just barge in here and tell us what to do, man.”
Kaine brushes past him and stands over me.
“Malyn-er,… Isa… fuck it. Malynda, you need to tell me what Xavier knows about what happened with the break-in at your apartment. And we don’t have a lot of time.”
“What, why?”
“Because… Ram, tell ’em.”
“Ram?”
“Um, Xavier just called me and told me… he told me to tell you that he’s sorry. And that he loves you.”
The message sends a chill down my spine. Nothing ever ends well with that message.
Kaine sits down on the couch next to me.
“Malynda, I need to know. Remember what I said to you at my house the other night? About the lengths he will go to? I think he knows something about what happened to your apartment that he’s not telling me. But you need to help me and tell me. To help him.”
Kaine’s words echo in my brain. And his mother’s words. Surely, he’s not still looking for a way to die? Not now that we’re finally back in each other’s lives?
I look into Kaine’s eyes and I know. I would trade my shame for Xavier’s life, any second.
“Twelve years ago, I was almost raped. The guy is back. And Xavier knows about it.”
Kaine springs to his feet and takes my hand.
“Come on, we’ll need to work fast then. We’ll talk more in the car.”