“Come on,” Max said, wrapping a protective arm around my shoulder and drawing me in close. “Let’s go back to my place. We can talk about this there.”

“Yes, thanks,” I said, collapsing against him. “I think it’s time I get serious about finding a new apartment.”

“Agreed,” he said, bending down to kiss me gently on the top of my head. “But, Audrey, you can stay with me for as long as you want. You’ll be safe at my apartment, I promise. Whoever this creep is, he won’t find you there.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT HIM

An excess of adrenaline was still surging through my veins, leaving me amped and on edge. I couldn’t concentrate on anything; all I could do was think back to the moment I’d stepped inside Audrey’s apartment that afternoon. I’d let myself in with the key I’d sweet-talked from the landlady weeks ago, and stopped to appreciate the warm sunlight streaming through her windows. The small unit looked cozy and inviting, even with the mess of moving boxes Audrey had let overtake the space. Every single time I came by her place, I expected to see at least some of them unpacked, but she had yet to make a dent. She really was such a slob. It was impossible to know that about her from her carefully composed online presence, but I had realized she would live in filth if left to her own devices.

Just another example of how she needed me.

I lifted a sticky wineglass from the floor beside her beanbag chair and hesitated. I imagined the shock and horror she would experience; I almost put down that dirty glass and left. I didn’t want to traumatize her. But I had to make a point.

You’re doing this because you love her, I reminded myself as I flung the goblet against the wall. It shattered in an explosion of cheap glass. I grabbed a fashion magazine splayed open on the floor and ripped its cover, tore its glossy pages into confetti. I felt a thrill as I threw them in the air. I was panting; my heart felt outsized.

And then I let myself go.

There was something cathartic in trashing her apartment. All the emotion I had been feeling coalesced into one swirling vortex of destruction. I lost track of time and myself as I flung clothing around the room, ripped her sheets from her bed, smashed palettes of makeup.

Afterward, I stood in the middle of her living room, dizzy, panting, looking at the devastation with wonder. Had I really done all that? There was no way she could misunderstand the depth of my emotion now. Satisfied, I staggered out the front door, not bothering to shut it behind me.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE AUDREY

After everything that had happened, I was in no hurry to live alone again. I could find another apartment, but how could I be certain that this maniac wouldn’t follow me there? I felt safe at Max’s, high above the street, protected by a doorman, and wrapped tightly in Max’s comforting arms. There, I could almost forget all the unsettling occurrences that had plagued me since I moved to the city.