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His face froze, and he nodded. “Death stays with you,” he said softly and looked away. “It’s like a cloud of poison in the air. And it doesn’t matter how much you try to wave it off, it lingers in the recesses of your mind.”
Jake's eyes cooled from the embers they were only a few minutes ago and I shivered. Something told me this man had seen a lot of death in his lifetime. Perhaps he’d caused it, too. I was starting to think Jake wasn’t just a bodyguard. Or at least not his whole life.
He stood from the ottoman and extended a hand to me, gently helping me off the couch. “Get your things. We’ll be at your place soon.”
***
Jake had parked his large black SUV at the marina after he followed the ‘kidnappers’ here. We walked towards it and I couldn’t help thinking how I’d watched this truck drive off only a few weeks ago and thought I’d never see it again.
Now I sat inside it.
It smelled new, like fresh leather and laundered carpets. There wasn’t a speck of dust on the dashboard or fingerprints on the large screen.
The drive home seemed much shorter than before. It was only thirty minutes from my apartment in Wellington.
When we pulled into my street, my hands shook. It was involuntary and I couldn’t seem to stop them either.
Jake’s steady hand covered mine, and the tremors subsided. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“Anytime.”
There was another black SUV parked in my driveway. “Who’s that?” I asked.
“That’s Will’s car.”
“Will’s your business partner, too?”
“Yes.”
I climbed out of the truck and slowly walked up the driveway.
My heart raced with each step that drew me closer. When I nearly stumbled on the first step, thanks to my shaky legs, Jake was there to steady me.
My front door was open, and a man stood inside, but I paid him no attention. My eyes were glued to the scene in front of me. It was my apartment, but it looked nothing like it.
Couch cushions were strewn across the room, along with pillows and blankets. Every book in my beloved collection was scattered onto the floor, along with broken glass and torn pieces of paper. Cupboards and drawers were left open and even picture frames were thrown to the ground.
Glass crunched underneath my boots as I walked towards my bedroom. This room was no better than the others. Clothes covered the carpeted floor, articles from both my dresser and my closet. My lamp had been knocked over and my bed sheets removed. Even the mattress had been pushed over.
“They were looking for something,” I said when I felt Jake next to me.
“Yeah, we think so, too.”
“But what could I possibly have that they would want?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I will find out.”
I looked around the room and down the hallway. It looked as though a tornado had stormed through the house. And my heart sank. “This is going to take me forever to clean up.”
“No, it won’t, because you will not be the one doing it.”
I turned to Jake. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m hiring a clean-up crew to tidy the place.” He surveyed the apartment. “Repairs will be needed and perhaps even a new couch and bed. I will take care of it all. I don’t want you worrying about anything.”
I wanted to argue, but it was exactly what I needed. I didn’t have the strength in me today, especially after everything, to fix this all on my own.
“I’ll book a room for you at the Ritz for two days, since you didn’t want to go to my place. It’s close to your work and I’m familiar with the layout. There’s an adjoining room, so I can be close to you if need be.”
