Page 28 of Carnal Desire
“No label or anything?” Brian asks.
I flip the box over to makes sure there isn’t a label anywhere on it. I shake my head even though he can’t see. “Nope. Nothing. It’s just a plain brown box.”
“Hmm. That means it wasn’t delivered through a delivery company. Somebody personally delivered it.”
“But you’re supposed to drop packages off at the front desk.” I walked into my living room, sat the box on the coffee table then plopped down on my couch. “They call and let you know you had something delivered or the doorman will bring it up. But he wouldn’t have left it by the door.”
“What are the security protocols of your building?” he asks.
“You have to sign in as a visitor unless you go through the private entrance for residents.”
I grabbed the letter opener from the coffee table and sliced into the box. “Oh my God.’ I put my hand against my nose. “It smells like something died.”
I open the flaps, move the crinkle paper out of the way and lost it, screaming, then tossing the box on the table.
“Cadence! Cadence!”
“Brian…help me. Please.”
12
Brian
Her scream and the absolute terror in her voice causes my heart to drop to my stomach like a lead weight. I have no fucking clue what’s happening. My mind is coming up with all kinds of scenarios, but I can’t get her to tell me anything. Her deep panicked breaths are sounding through the line but she’s not responding to my voice.
“Cadence, I’m almost there, sweetheart.”
I’m trying to get to her as fast as I can. We only live a few blocks from each other but like usual, traffic sucks. I pound the steering wheel as I’m caught by another light.
“Fuck! Just a few more minutes, Cadence.”
As soon as the light turns green, I make a left going about another block, before making a right and turning down the street in front of her building, then pulling into the building’s parking garage. I park, jump out of my car like a fire is lit under my ass and race towards the tenant’s elevator. Luckily someone’s entering, and I can bypass all the building’s security they have in place that only lets people who stay here enter without permission.
Right now, I’m grateful for the easy access to her building but after I find out what the hell is happening, I’ll address the lack of security with Angel. Her safety is my priority and right now this building doesn’t meet those standards. Anybody can get in here as long as a tenant is entering the building. This is probably how that package was delivered straight to her front door when it should have been delivered to the front desk.
The older woman inside the elevator is holding the handles of her walker for dear life while scrutinizing me. She has the flower print scarf tied around her head that matches her flowered print dress that reaches her ankles. She’s probably one of those nosey neighbors who knows everyone in the building, what floor they live on, and who comes to visit them. And she knows she doesn’t recognize me. However, she doesn’t say anything. She just presses the button to the thirty fifth floor. One floor under Angel’s.
The protector in me wishes she would interrogate me about who I am and why I’m here but the man ready to kill anyone who has hurt Cadence has me thankful she doesn’t say shit. I’m not really in the move to explain myself to anyone.
The elevator slides smoothly to a stop and the doors slowly open. The older woman gives me one final glance over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes at me, then little by little shuffles out of the elevator. Then, she momentarily stops, and I think she’s going to finally question me, but she continues to walk away as the doors closes. I let out a breath of relief because I didn’t want to curse out an elderly woman, Cadence is my priority. I push the button to her floor over and over, hoping it would get me there faster but knowing it wouldn’t. The moment the car stops, and the door opens I rush out, making a left the race to the fourth door down the hall.
I pound on the door. “Cadence! It’s me, Angel. Open the door.”
The door flies open, and she jumps into my arms.
“Brian… he’s going to kill me,” she says as her body trembles in my arms.
I tighten my embrace. “Nobody’s going to do anything to you, Cadence. They’ll have to get through me first. Let’s go inside.”
She leaves my embrace and I follow her inside her apartment. I close and lock the deadbolt behind me.
“It’s over there on the table.” She points to the glass coffee table in her living room where a medium sized cardboard box is sitting.
As soon as I reach it, I can smell something rotten, like something died. And small amounts of blood stains the walls of the cardboard box. I pull back the flaps of the box and see the decapitated head of a small black kitten that has a note written in red which I assume is blood pinned to the dead body of the animal.
Your next.
“You’re coming to stay with me. Go pack a bag.”
