The Door He Locked

For twelve days, the house became a place I could almost mistake for normal.

I took shorter shifts at the diner, with Rafe's driver waiting far enough away not to frighten customers. Alessandro worked from home when he could. He learned that I hated ginger tea and bought it anyway until I caught him reading an article with the concentration of a man defusing a bomb.

"I can be pregnant and dislike ginger," I told him.

"The article was emphatic."

"The article isn't carrying your child."

He closed it and made me peppermint instead.

At night, I slept in his room. Some mornings, I woke before him and watched the sternness leave his face in sleep. I had started keeping my hair ties on his nightstand.

Then someone sent flowers to the diner.

White lilies, like the ones beside my mother's coffin.

The card said, Your father should have known when to stop.

I called Rafe before I called Alessandro. It was the sensible order. Alessandro arrived first anyway.

He came through the diner door still in his meeting suit, his expression so cold that the manager stepped back without asking a question.

"Where are they?"

I pointed at the counter.

He read the card. The paper bent between his fingers.

"I'm all right," I said.

His eyes moved to my face. "You're coming home."

I wanted to argue about the tone. Then I looked at the flowers and couldn't make myself stay another minute.

In the car, he held my hand so tightly I had to shift my fingers. He released them immediately and stared out the window.

That evening, Rafe explained that the florist had received the order online with information that led nowhere useful. Nora would preserve the card and delivery details. The diner had cameras. They were following what they could.

Alessandro said almost nothing.

The following morning, I dressed for a coffee with Liam at his sister's apartment. We had arranged it two days earlier. Rafe knew. A driver was supposed to take me.

When I reached the front door, the alarm panel flashed red.

I entered the code again.

Access restricted.

I stood very still.

The door's interior thumb turn had been disengaged by the security setting. There was an emergency release under a cover beside the frame, but I shouldn't have needed it to leave a house where I had been given a key.

Alessandro came out of his office.

"The car isn't coming," he said. "I canceled it."

"Why?"

"We haven't identified who placed the order."

"Rafe knew about the visit."

"I changed the arrangements."

I looked from him to the panel.

"And the door?"

His silence lasted half a second too long.

"The perimeter is locked until we clear the threat."

Something inside me went horribly quiet.

"You told me nobody would stop me leaving."

"This is different."

"Because you're frightened?"

"Because someone threatened you yesterday."

"Yes. They did. And now you're deciding where I can go without even speaking to me."

He stepped toward me. "Emma, please be reasonable."

I flinched as if he'd raised his hand.

He saw it. His expression changed.

"Don't," I said. "Don't make me the unreasonable one because I noticed the lock."

He stopped.

The room was quiet enough for me to hear the heating come on.

"Open it," I said.

He looked at the door. For one terrible moment, I thought he would refuse.

Then he crossed to the panel and entered his code.

The lock released.

I went upstairs.

He followed only as far as the bedroom doorway. I took my clothes from his drawers and put them into the bag I had brought.

"You don't have to leave because of one bad decision," he said.

"I have to know I can."

His face tightened. I folded a sweater badly and unfolded it again.

"I've spent four years making my life smaller," I said. "Different job. Different name. Don't go there, don't talk to him, don't be noticed. I was starting to feel like I could breathe here."

"You can."

"I entered the code you gave me, and the door wouldn't open."

He looked down.

I shoved the sweater into the bag.

"I know you're trying to keep me safe. I know that. But you don't get to make fear the answer to every question."

His hand closed around the doorframe.

"Where will you go?"

"Liam's arranging somewhere."

"His sister has children. I won't put them at risk."

"Neither will I. Give me a minute to work something out before you tell me what I haven't thought about."

He stepped back as if I had struck him.

I called Liam. Then Nora, because I couldn't bear to turn a fight with Alessandro into danger for someone else's family. She knew a furnished apartment in a building used by visiting clients, with controlled entry and staff at the desk.

I agreed to let Rafe inspect it. I agreed to protection outside. I did not agree to Alessandro keeping a key.

He didn't ask for one.

At the front door, he lifted my bag before I could reach for it.

"I'll carry this to the car," he said. "Then I'll come back inside."

I followed him into the cold.

He placed the bag in the trunk and turned to me. He looked as though he hadn't slept for days, although I had been beside him all night.

"I was wrong," he said.

My throat closed.

"Yes. You were."

"I wanted to keep every bad thing outside. I didn't notice what I was doing to the person inside."

I looked at the lapel of his coat because his face was too much.

"I don't know how long I need."

"You don't have to tell me today."

He opened the car door. His palm lifted toward my cheek, then lowered before it reached me.

I caught his hand.

For a moment, we stood that way in the mist.

Then I let go and got into the car.

He stayed on the curb until we turned the corner.

That was the first thing he did that made me believe I could come back.