Page 25 of Out of Control

ten

Athena

It was growing dark outside by the time we finally left the station. I was glad for it. The later it was the less time I’d have to spend with Lucas fucking Blake.

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have the same idea as I did. He didn’t just drop me off when we pulled up to my house. He put the car in park and shut off the engine. I paused with my hand on the handle, trying to convince myself that he was just going to walk me safely to my door. He wouldn’t expect to actually come inside my private residence after all the shit he kept putting me through. He wasn’t that clueless.

But he was reaching into the back seat for his briefcase. What kind of douche carried a briefcase in this day and age? Who carried enough physical briefs with them every day that they needed a briefcase? I was a lawyer and I didn’t even do that. My laptop bag was more than sufficient.

But he was pulling the briefcase to his lap and opening his car door. Did he think he was going to come inside and stay long enough to get some work done? He had another thing coming.

I let him walk me up to the sunroom, unlocking the heavy-duty screen that led into the enclosed porch. I had a brief tug of memory, remembering the smooth wood when I sat on the swing as a child, watching the early morning fog turn into afternoon drizzles while I played with my puzzles; safe from the weather, but still enjoying the fresh air and friendly neighborhood.

I snapped out of the memory when Blake shoved his way next to me, clearly assuming he was walking into my house with me. His fucking toe tapped against my mother’s welcome mat as he waited for me to unlock the front door.

Oh hell no.

“Excuse you,” I said, shouldering him away from me so I was directly in front of the door as I unlocked it.

“Excuseyou,” he returned. I turned around to face him, stepping inside the doorway and blocking the narrow opening with my body.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t remember inviting you inside my home. So if you’d please back up so I can securely close my door instead of standing out in the open like a free target…”

I was wearing the body armor still, but that wouldn’t protect me from everything.

“You agreed to my protection, so let me secure the house.”

“And camp out in my guest room or on my couch? No, you don’t need to bring a briefcase into my home just to check my windows and doors. I let you in here and you’ll never leave.”

The way he avoided my eyes told me I was right. He was planning to stay all night.Doing what?

“You want to stake out my place, fine. Stay in your car.”

“You’re being unreasonable. I’ll be quick, I promise.”

I paused. It made sense for him to come inside.

“No. You can stay in the sunroom,” I compromised, gesturing to the swing encased in the porch. “But my front door stays locked. I’ll give you the Wi-Fi password to keep you entertained on your laptop.”

He glared when I smiled sweetly at him, the picture of benevolence and grace.

“I swear to god I’m going to piss in your rosebushes if you keep me out here all night!”

“You do what you gotta do,” I replied, cool as a cucumber. And then I closed the front door on his fuming anger, locking the shitty old deadbolt and securing the rusted chain behind me.

Making sure the blinds and curtains were closed all the way, I walked through my mom’s old-fashioned foyer and turned left into the living room.

I walked up to the large whiteboard smack in the middle of the room, the one where I kept a timeline of events starting from the moment my mom took that ill-fated contract. I wrote in today’s interview and schmoozing session with Carlo Morelli, then addedExpected follow up call tomorrowat the bottom of the board.

On the righthand whiteboard, I addedMark Rosenbergas a LEO who was on the right side of things. He seemed trustworthy, even if he was friendly with my stalker.Luke,he called him. They must have been pretty close.

On the lefthand board, I stared at the pictures of my adversaries: Carlo Morelli, Angelo Morelli, Leo Lombardi, and the blank silhouette I labeled asAntonio. I had his last name now, so I could probably google a picture to put up with the others.

I added the last nameContiand let my fingers linger over the information on Leo Lombardi. Dishonorably discharged after a suspected assault on a female officer in his unit. No charges were ever filed, of course, which was why he was allowed to walk around, thinking he had the ability to overpower women like me who agreed to go on a date with him.

I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t been taking self-defense classes for half a decade.

With that thought in mind, I walked the first floor of the house, making sure all windows were locked and curtains drawn, the back door secured with both the hook-and-eye latch and shiny new deadbolt. I had wondered why Mom installed both of those new additions when I first came back into town, but now I knew: she didn’t feel safe in her own house. I found the pieces to a second locking mechanism on the porch swing when I arrived, but it looked like she never got around to installing that deadbolt. Was that how someone got inside?

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