Page 67 of Lucian

Jordyn brushed off the questions. “What do you mean, the second round?”

Sighing, the landlord eyed her curiously. “Where have you been, huh? Neighbors say they haven’t seen you in a good month.”

“Away,” Jordyn answered vaguely.

“Left right after the first break-in, didn’t you?”

Break in. Right, that was a good term for her attack. Not.

“Around that time, yeah. Just took some time to breathe. Listen, are you going to give me the fucking keys, or what?”

“The eviction is already served. It’s non-negotiable after the whole damage thing. It’s posted on the second new door I’ve had to put on your apartment this month.”

Jordyn tried to keep her cool, she really did. “So let me guess, after Lucian paid for you to fix the first broken door, you slummed around before getting it done. Someone broke in while the screwed up door was still on, and messed up my apartment again. Is that what happened?”

“The door was fixed two days after the first break-in,” he replied tiredly. “Last week, a bunch of denim and leather wearing scum came into the building and knocked the door down again before tearing up the place. Maybe they were looking for something, cutie. You have any idea what that might have been?”

Jordyn’s heart stopped as bile rose to her mouth. “They came back here?”

“I don’t know who they are, but someone sure did.”

“And you didn’t think to call the police?”

“Why, so I can lose a half a dozen tenants over the cops coming here for something they can’t fix?”

“I’m sorry,” Jordyn rushed to say. “I’ll pay for whatever they did. I just really need to get inside my apartment. My whole life is in there … Listen, my mother died when I was younger. All I have of her is in that apartment. I need to get it.”

The man gave her a sympathetic look, but shrugged. “I don’t think you understand. They ruined it all. I’ll let you in, and you have ten minutes before I want you out of this building for good, but I don’t think you’re going to get what you came looking for.”

Jordyn thanked the man before he closed his door. She waited while he got the new keys, and then followed him up to the second floor and down to where her apartment was. Sure enough, a brand new door and frame was installed, right along with the regulation eviction that she ripped as soon as she saw it.

The moment her landlord unlocked the apartment, Jordyn understood exactly what he meant. She barely managed to hold the sudden swirling sickness in her stomach at bay. It wasn’t just a mess, it was a goddamned disaster.

The couch had been flung over, along with a broken coffee table. The two matching chairs for the tiny kitchenette set had been used to punch massive holes in the wall. Glass shards were sprinkled everywhere. The few books she managed to collect over the years were also strewn with pages ripped out and scattered. The fridge had been emptied of its contents, food rotting and leaving an awful smell lingering in the stale air. Any pictures and fake art on the walls were torn down and ruined.

Jordyn’s apartment had never been much. The building was a dive, the tenants could be scary, and she didn’t live in the best neighborhood, but it was still hers. She’d loved it, lived in it since she was eighteen, and it was the one thing she felt The Sons of Hell couldn’t take from her.

But, oh, they had.

Tears welled in her eyes immediately, threatening to spill over.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her landlord. “Really.”

“You were here the first time around, yeah?” he asked.

Jordyn didn’t want to, but she nodded anyway. “Yeah.”

“Figured, what with the blood and vomit. They got you pretty bad. I don’t know why you came back, cutie, but seeing what they did the first time, it was why I didn’t try to go after you for damages after this one. You shouldn’t be here if this is what they’ll do when you’re not around and they come looking. Don’t you get that?”

Again, Jordyn nodded bleakly. “Just give me a second to grab my box and I’ll go. I have some money, too, if it’s even here …”

It was only maybe four grand of cash Jordyn had saved, just in case she ever needed it. Clearly she owed a lot for what happened here. It probably wouldn’t cover all of the damages, but it might help.

The landlord stepped back into the hallway as Jordyn moved further into the mess. She weaved through the hazards, going straight to her bedroom. It was there that she hurt the most.

The sheets on her bed were ripped off, exposing a mattress with a cut straight down the middle, opening its insides to let the material spill out. An overwhelming stench of urine soaked the room, coming from the bed. In the very middle of the mattress, the belt Will had used to beat her half to death rested like it’d been laid out for her to remember, dried blood staining the studs.

Her blood.