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Riley nodded. She knew she was going to have to let him down easy but not today. He was literally down on his back. You don’t do that kind of thing. Kick a man when he was down.
“Riley?”
Raising her head there were tears in her eyes.
“You aren’t taking me back are you?”
Sniffling through her tears, she looked away. She couldn’t do this to him now.
“I would rather have the truth.”
She shook her head.
Adam nodded and he didn’t look surprised. “It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I knew I’d already lost you.”
Riley felt tears fall down her cheeks.
The door opened and several people rushed in. Adam’s parents and his sister.
“Oh, baby!” his mother cried. “No one told us till today!”
His family moved in around the bed as Riley quietly stepped out of the circle.
Adam had his eyes on her as she made it to the door, she could feel it. She turned and locked gazes with him. “Thank you,” she mouthed.
Nodding his head and looking saddened, he tried to focus on all the questions, his family kept firing at him.
Riley went out to the hall. Yes, that was hard, but she’d already broken up with the man six weeks ago. He had his family now.
Speaking of family, Walker had disappeared as soon as they announced that Adam would make it. She knew where he’d gone though and she would immediately head there herself.
She had to get to her apartment. Gather her other credit cards, rent an SUV, pack what belongings she wanted with her. She was never coming back, so she had to choose carefully.
During the time she spent in the hospital waiting for Adam to wake, all she thought about was Harris. It was selfish and she knew it. After what happened to Adam, but she couldn’t help it. The way Harris had acted the entire time he’d taken care of Adam. It bugged her. Like he was shutting her out then the salute felt like he’d been saying goodbye? But why?
She got a cab and rushed across town.
It felt surreal when she arrived at her apartment building. This life she’d lived here had been a lifetime ago, it felt like her world before meeting Harris was nothing now. Unimportant.
She walked up to her door. Pausing, she realized, she had no key on her. She would have to find the super. She stood in the hall and felt odd for a moment. Walking closer, she could see the door to her apartment was ajar. She sucked in a breath. Moving quietly, she crept up and peeked in. Her eyes widened.
It was trashed. The couch was turned over, the cushions torn open. Her eyes moved over the floors, papers were scattered everywhere. Someone had been looking for her or looking for information. She wondered when this had happened or if the person was still here.
Riley pushed the door open but stood in the hall in case there was someone still in there. She swung her gaze over the room. Her fish tank was on the floor, her fish dead, and the water dried up. So, it wasn’t recent. Dammit, they’d killed her fish and she felt sure they would have killed her had she been home too. Tears filled her eyes, she’d planned to give the fish to her old lady neighbor, Ms. Tilly who would have loved them and had been feeding them for her while she’d been gone.
Gingerly stepping in, she looked around. She listened to see if there were any sounds.
Nothing.
She shut the door behind her in case a neighbor happened by. She wouldn’t be able to explain this away easily and she didn’t want any cops here.
“God…” Stunned, she around at the destruction as her stomach churned. It had to be Falkner’s men. Before they followed her up. Or before they followed Adam?
She tried to console herself. So what? Her life was done here now. Still, if she left this mess and someone came along, like her super…they would call the cops and she would be reported missing.
Sighing, she felt disappointed. It’d been almost six days since she’d left Harris on that mountain. Would he think she wasn’t coming back at all? She shook her head. No, he said he knew Adam would need her for at least a week.
First, she needed to rent a car. She looked around for her laptop.
Smashed on the floor by the patio window.
“Those fuckers!” Sighing, she grabbed the phone and dialed information. After fifteen minutes with a rep, she had the rental. She had an account at several rental places as she took trips for stories on a constant basis and they had her card info.
With this done, she went to the kitchen and got the trash bags out. Picking up everything that was shredded, torn or ruined, she cleaned and cleaned for two hours.
