Page 139 of On a Fault Line

Why is Mark sending me mail?

With trembling hands, I place the envelope into the stack of mail I have contained under my arm and walk to the elevator.

I don’t even need to open it to know what’s inside. Mark’s threatening me and taunting me. He promised me during my visit with him that he had ways of getting to me.

And he’s proving it to me now.

I thought that my brothers finding out about me and Collins was the greatest threat to my happiness, but what if Mark Tanner polluting my head so badly that I get sent back to Soulful Mind is the real predator? What happens if the only way to get Mark convicted with a concrete sentence is to testify against him?

Feeling the pangs of panic rising in my throat, I get on the elevator and hit the button for my floor.

When the doors open, I walk in silence to my place and enter.

With their backs turned, I see Graham and Angie chatting with Luke, who seems to be soaking up the attention.

Oh, please don’t make a snarky comment about me never being here.

I kick my shoes off and walk deeper into the room, making everyone turn toward me.

Angie greets me with a hug. “Hey, Penny.” She takes a step back and looks at me with concern while mouthing, “Are you okay?”

I bite at my bottom lip and shake my head no.

“Hey,” she says, leveling her eyes with mine. “Whatever it is, it will be okay.”

Probably hearing the conversation, Graham makes his way over to me. “Penny, what has you so upset?”

I wipe at the tears forming in my eyes and hand over the unopened envelope.

“What’s this?” my brother asks, staring at the return label. “Tanner? FuckingTanner?”

“Yes. But I didn’t see what he sent. I never opened it.”

Graham curses under his breath and tears open the package. He takes a look inside and then shakes out a keychain into the palm of his hand. “Well, that’s weird.”

“A keychain?” I ask.

Angie clears her throat. “What kind of mind games is that evil man playing?”

Taking the ring from Graham’s hand, I turn it over and see the number three engraved into the flat piece of metal. What the hell?

“Penny?” Graham asks. His eyes bore into mine. “What do you know?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know anything. But twice now, I’ve received these weird deliveries.” I move into the kitchen and search for the postcard that I got weeks ago when I first moved in.

“What kind of deliveries? Were there return addresses?” he pries.

“No return addresses. But just”—I hold the card up that has the number one—“these types of mysterious deliveries.”

“One,” Graham says. “Is there a two?”

I nod. “Yeah. Well, I think. Hold on.”

I rush into my bedroom, a room I have slept in cumulatively less than I have Collins’s place, and grab the teddy bear that now has a limp number two balloon attached.

Walking back into the living room, I give Luke a weak smile. He appears to be confused but invested. I honestly haven’t seen him this quiet ever.

“I missed you,” he whispers to me.

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