There was no message, no name and no warning written across it, and there didn’t need to be. Whoever had taken the picture knew where I’d moved. They knew who I was spending time with, and somehow, they’d gotten past the security downstairs and made it all the way to my front door.
I slowly looked down the hallway again. The silence that had felt normal a few minutes ago suddenly felt different, and my eyes moved toward the camera near the elevator before dropping back to the photograph in my hand.
This was supposed to be the place where I was safe.
Visitors had to show identification. There were cameras on every floor, and nobody was supposed to be able to get upstairs without being cleared.
Somebody had anyway.
I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone. My fingers were still shaking as I found Vice’s name, and without hesitation.
I called him.
15
VICE BLACKWELL
Milan’s name flashed across my screen while I was sitting in my office going over the latest information Mace had sent me. The second I answered, I knew something was wrong.
“Vice...”
Her voice was low and tight, and whatever little peace I’d managed to find over the last few hours disappeared immediately.
“What happened?”
“Somebody left something outside my door.”
I was already standing. “What?”
“A picture.”
I grabbed my keys from the desk and headed toward the door. “A picture of what?”
There was a short pause before she answered. “Me and you.”
My steps slowed for half a second, but my mind kept moving. “From where?”
“That restaurant. The first time we had lunch.”
That meant whoever took it had been watching longer than I thought. They hadn’t just found her new address. They had followed us, taken the picture without either one of us noticing,held onto it and waited until she moved somewhere new before leaving it outside her door.
“Are you inside your apartment?”
“No. I’m still in the hallway.”
“Don’t go in.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Get back on the elevator and go downstairs.”
“I already called security.”
“Stay with them until I get there, but I don’t trust them mothafuckas either. Just make sure you stay in the lobby where people can see you.”
Her breathing changed a little, and I could hear that she was trying hard to keep herself calm. Milan didn’t scare easily. Even when somebody had broken into her first apartment, she’d held herself together long enough to argue with me about leaving. Hearing the fear in her voice now made something inside me tighten.
“I’m on my way,” I told her.
