Page 28 of How to Prevent a Fumble

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.

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