Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Chapter 61:

Tatiana’s P.O.V

The cab dropped me off at my doorstep and I collected my baggage and entered my apartment building. But as soon as I stepped into the elevator, an unknown fear clutched at my stomach.

I shook it off, thinking that it might be a post break-up trauma kind of thing. Then again, I was never Damien’s girlfriend to begin with. How could it be a post-breakup trauma if I wasn’t even in a relationship?

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I exited the elevator and took out my apartment keys from my pocket and unlocked the door, but as soon as I stepped into my apartment, something felt off.

Deciding not to take any chances, I stepped out of the door and reached my hand up to the 204 sign above my door. Not many people knew but it was my secret place to hide my spare key. I carefully unscrewed the bottom nail with my fingers and since it was a designer nail, it came out easily. There was a small pocket built into the wall to store the key, but when I opened the sign, the key was safely in the pocket.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I put the screw back on and entered my apartment, locking the door tight after I’d entered. I then turned on all the lights in the living and kitchen area and looked around the house, double checking just to be sure. When everything seemed to be just as I’d left it, I dragged in my luggage beside me to the laundry room and left it there for later use.

I then put my purse down on my kitchen counter and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before I decided to take a hot shower and go to bed, since I seem to have lost my appetite. Dear God, that just reminded me of why I’ve lost my appetite and it fuelled the headache that had already started the instant Damien had entered the cab with me and then left abruptly, without even finishing what he’d started to say.

Damn it! Why was I even thinking about him? I scolded myself and decided to head to my room for a shower.

I opened the door to my room, turned on all the lights...and froze on the spot.

Because sitting on my bed with his legs crossed and sharp knife in his hand was none other than Connor McCarthy. And on the wall behind him, was a writing in bold red ink that looked too dark to be ketchup. It made my skin crawl and a scream erupt from my throat.

Welcome to Hell.

Damien’s P.O.V:

I was walking down the street aimlessly; not really noticing where I was or where I was heading. It’s like my mind had gone completely gone blank and everywhere I looked, I saw only darkness. And the only light in that eternal darkness was Tia. My mind and heart were being torn in two opposite directions and I had no clue which one I should follow.

My mind kept telling me to keep walking away from her, to save us both a lot of hurt, a lot of trouble and just be gone from her life for good. Tia didn’t need a man who couldn’t even make up his own damn mind. But my heart...my heart kept telling me that I was the biggest fool in the world, letting the most amazing woman I’ve ever met slip away through my fingers.

My phone started ringing at that instant, distracting me from my train of thought for a few seconds. I fished it out of my pocket and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

“Hell-“

“Damien! Thank God! Are you with Tatiana right now? Is she with you? I’ve been trying to contact her for the last fifteen minutes but all the calls keep transferring to voicemail.”

The urgency in Daniel’s voice instantly put me on high alert. “Daniel, I’m not with Tatiana anymore, I just got off the cab. What’s wrong?”

“Shit!” Daniel cussed. “You need to get to her quick. We’re heading to her house at this instant but we’re stuck in traffic. How far away are you from her house?”

“About ten minutes?” I mentally calculated the distance after trying to figure out where exactly I’d gotten off; it seems like somewhere down the line I’d involuntarily started walking towards Tia’s house. “Daniel, you’re scaring me. Tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s that son of a bitch, Connor!” Daniel snapped. “Damnit! Why won’t the line move?”

“Daniel, focus!” I snapped at my little brother. “Who’s Connor and what is his connection with Tatiana?”

I had a really bad feeling about this. Even as I waited for Daniel to answer, I felt an uneasy weight settle in my stomach and my heartbeat started to accelerate. “Daniel!”

“He’s her ex, okay! Tatiana warned me not to tell you, but screw that!” Daniel continued. “They were in a three year long relationship and Connor got really abusive with her. He hit her in front of me so I put him behind bars. But he’s out of jail and following Tatiana around. I don’t know why he’s doing that but whatever the reason, it can’t be good.”

“Fuck!” I rubbed at my temples, desperately trying to figure out something to do. “I’m heading to her house. You try and get here as soon as you can. I’m hanging up.”

I hung up the call without waiting for a reply and dialed Tia’s number, but just as Daniel had said, it went straight to her voicemail.

“Damn it, Tia!” I cussed out loud, not caring who heard me. “Why do you have to act difficult now of all times?”

But even as I said that, I knew Tia wasn’t acting difficult; she was protecting herself. She was buying time for the questions that were no doubt coming her way from her friends. And I couldn’t blame her for that, not when I knew I was the cause of it.

“Damn it!” I ran my fingers through my hair and looked around the road in search of a cab, but there was none in sight. Where were those cabs when you needed them?

Making an instant decision to not waste any more time, I abandoned my luggage at the corner of the street and started running towards Tia’s house. There was nothing but clothing in my bag anyway and I already had my passport and other important documents on me. If someone decided to take the suitcase, they were free to take it because the clothes weren’t my main concern right now.

I’d heard about such similar cases from my colleagues and there was only one reason the abusive party would contact the victims after getting out of jail. And it almost always resulted in violence and bloodshed. And right now, I had to get to Tia, before it was too late.