“He—Hunter—hemovedeverything. Everything in my cupboards, everything in my fridge. He moved my furniture around. I’m going to assume he moved everything in my bathroom too.”
“I don’t understand,” Vanya said quietly. “Why would he do this?”
“Because I can’t see!” I hadn’t meant to shout, but I felt Vanya recoil. “Sorry. Shit.” Oh god, the space behind my eyelids was getting hot. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I—I can’tsee, Vanya. I need everything to be the way I set it up so I’m not fucking blind in my own home.”
Vanya spat something in Russian. Something angry. I didn’t understand the words, but I understood the tone. He took a deep breath, then said, “Okay, we fix.”
I shook my head. “I don’t—I can’t be in here. I need to get the fuck out.”
“Okay. Okay,” he said quickly. “What you want to bring?”
“Nothing. It all feels fucking tainted.” I forced myself to stand on jelly legs and hated that I startled when Vanya touched my arm. “Actually, bring that note.”
I didn’t actually want to know what he’d written, but I needed it. Ben was right. I couldn’t keep going like this. Hunter’s texts and threats weren’t easy to ignore before, but I’d given it my best shot.
I’d tried to treat him like a toddler who was acting up for attention.
But this?
This was unhinged. This was…there were no words. Hunter was clearly not okay, and I didn’t want to think about what else he was capable of.
Vanya reached past me, and I heard him swipe the paper off the table and fold it. When he touchedme again, his hands were empty, and I couldn’t stop myself from collapsing against him.
“I want to get out of here.”
“Yes. We can go.”
He loosened his grip but didn’t move until I was ready, and when I finally pulled back and made my way to the front door to grab my cane and shoes, I knew in that moment I would probably never be back here again.
There was something to be said about the fact that Vanya’s place was starting to feel like home. The smells, the sounds our feet made on the floors, the spot on the couch that I had mentally claimed, and the way Vanya dropped down with a soft grunt and simply leaned into me.
It soothed me in a way I didn’t think I could be soothed right then.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Vanya asked.
I didn’t. And I did. It felt like it was festering alongside everything else I’d been keeping to myself. Licking my lips, I sat forward, reaching for the water Vanya had gotten me before settling in.
My stomach churned, protesting taking anything in, but a few moments later, I felt better.
“Were there any busted windows?”
Vanya sighed. “No. If he use the window, he put everything back the way it was. I think maybe call desk, see if someone get your key.”
“There is no way they’d give anyone my key without calling first,” I said, but the reality was, I had to ask. Something was going on.
First, Hunter was able to find me at a random club in New York. Then he was able to get past security twice, though Ben had pretty much solved that problem. But now he was able to get into my apartment with enough time to rearrange everything?
My hands began to shake again, and I let out a small, startled noise when Vanya took them between his own and rubbed some warmth back into my fingers.
“Is going to be okay,” he murmured.
I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “Yeah? How?”
“Well, this time, you’re not alone. You’re not hiding everything.”
I was hiding from some people, but…he had a point.
“And we can fix, Micah. This problem? All of it? We can fix.”
