Chapter Sixty-Nine

Chapter Sixty-Nine
Aubrey

I arrive home after a long flight, exhausted and sad. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I am glad I found the courage to tell him how I truly felt. I didn’t expect him to feel the same. Smiling at the thought, I go to unlock the door—and realize it’s already open. What the hell? I’m sure I locked it. I push it open. An eerie feeling overtakes me. My apartment is trashed. Everything is smashed. I freeze, fear gripping me. Who did this? What if they’re still here? Only Benji would do this—but how did he get in? How did no one hear it?

I turn and sprint back out, scared in case Benji is still here. I dart downstairs and out into the street. My heart pounds in my chest, and my hands shake. I glance around, making sure he is around somewhere. Did he come to get me? And when he realized I wasn’t there, he got mad and took it out on the apartment. Either that or he has been watching me and knew I was away.

With my shaky hand, I take my cell from my bag and call Erica.

“Hey, sweetie, are you home?” she chirps.

“Erica, someone has broken in and trashed my apartment.” I sob.

“What? Are you okay? Where are you? Get out of there, Aubrey.” She panics.

“I am fine. I am outside. It can only be one person,” I whimper.

“I know exactly who you are thinking of. Stay there. I will call Hugo to come over. He is at the office. Can you sit in your car?”
“Yes, I can sit in there. Erica, why won’t he leave me alone?” The tears stream down my cheeks.

“I don’t know, sweetie. I am sorry, he is still doing this to you. Get in your car and lock the doors, okay? I will stay on the call while you do, then I will hang up to call Hugo and then call you right back and stay on the phone until Hugo arrives.”

“Okay.”

I rush to my car and climb in, locking the doors behind me. I am completely on edge. My eyes keep darting around, expecting him to appear at any time.

“I am in my car, and the doors are locked.”

“Okay. I will call you right back. Don’t leave the car until Hugo arrives.”

With that, we hang up. My leg bounces, and there is a churning in my stomach. I stare at my cell, deciding if I should let Everett know what is going on. I decide against it. He will be busy with work. If I tell him, he will worry and hate that he isn’t here. I spoke to him when I got off the flight and texted when I arrived at my building. I don’t want to lie to him, but I know if I tell him, he is going to be angry and will be on the next flight here. He will hunt Benji down and kill him!

My cell rings a moment later, and it is Erica calling back. I answer quickly, not wanting her to worry more than she already is. “Hi.”

“Hugo will be there in five minutes. You can call the cops once he is.”

“They won’t do anything. I have no proof it was Benji.”

“You have security cameras. He isn’t that smart; he knows how to disarm them. You need to call the cops, sweetie. He belongs in jail.”

I understand where she is coming from, but are they really going to do anything about a trashed apartment? I don’t exactly have any proof of everything he did in the past. The worst things that will happen since he hasn’t physically hurt me. Well, that I can prove that to them. He will get a protective order slapped on him and be warned to stay away. They may make him pay for the damage, but he won’t go to jail.

“He does, but he won’t get sent there.”

“You still need to report it,” she says softly. “After you have spoken to the cops, Hugo will bring you here. You can stay here with us.”
I could go to Everett’s house, but I wouldn’t know where to tell them I am going. It will seem strange if I tell them I have keys to his house while he is in London.

“Thank you.”

I don’t want to stay alone.

“You will be okay, Aubrey. I promise.”

Erica stays on the call until I see Hugo pull up in front of my car. I unlock the door and climb out. The second he spots me, he rushes over and hugs me tightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I don’t know when it happened, but he doesn’t seem to be around. If it were him.”

“He is the only person who would do this, Aubrey. I am going to check if the place is empty. Stay close and behind me.”

He parts from the hug, and I keep behind him as we head back inside and up to my apartment. “Stay out here.”

“Please be careful in case he is still lurking in my apartment somewhere,” I say nervously. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Hugo because of me.

I chew my inner cheek as I wait in the hallway. The longer Hugo is away, the more nervous I become.

“Hugo?” I call out, my voice shaky.

“I am fine. He isn’t here. You can come in, but don’t touch anything, okay?”

I walk inside and take a better look already. Along with things shattered on the ground, my TV has been smashed with something. My sofa has been torn. Nothing is in his place, and there is red spray paint all over my walls. I let out a loud whimper and drop to my knees.

“How did he even get in?”

Hugo crouches before me. “I really don’t know. Maybe it is time we find you somewhere to live.”

“What would be the point? He always seems to find me,” I reply, the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“You are going to be safe, Aubrey. I promise.”

I bury my face in his chest and break down. He soothes me until I slowly begin to calm down. “I wish he would just leave me alone.”
“I know. I am sorry, he is still putting you through this, Aubrey. You worked so hard to get away from him. I wish he would stay away. I wish I could do more to help.” He sighs and wipes my tears.

“You have done more than enough for me, Hugo. I need to find a way to make it stop.”

Maybe I need to come face-to-face with him, stand up against him and show I am not afraid of him anymore, even if I am, but he doesn’t need to know that. I have to do something because I can’t keep living my life on the edge like this. It took everything I had in me and lots of help from Hugo and Erica to get away from him, to start my life again. I can’t allow that bastard to take it all away from me again.

“We will find a way. For now, we need to call the cops.”

I can only nod. This is not what I expected to come home to. I should have known, though, that Benji would disappear so easily, even with him leaving me alone for a while. I don’t want to think about what could have happened if I were home when he broke in.