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He nodded, then he stayed so close to me I could feel his body heat as we made our way slowly through the studio, taking in the damage. It became clear pretty quickly that this wasn’t a robbery or random vandalism, though I could’ve guessed that the moment I saw the photos up front. But that was all confirmed after we bypassed a completely untouched studio and arrived at my office.
“Jesus H.,” Justin said under his breath as we stood in the doorway.
Here, the ugly words telling me to die and calling me a whore and worse were carved right into the sheetrock of my walls, every picture I had defaced.
I choked back an outraged cry as I realized it was not just photos of me, but of Lizzie, that had the eyes either blacked or crossed out. I spun around. “Justin!”
“I know. Check your security feed on the app on your phone. Do you remember how?”
I blinked at him, momentarily frozen, before I mentally shook myself into action. Security. My baby could be in danger. “Yes, yes.”
My hands were trembling as I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and fired up the security app. He had to take over at one point to help me maneuver through the different cameras as we checked on Sofia and Elizabeth and the entire property. Everything was good. They were safe. I took a breath, so grateful for him right then, even though so much of this had felt like an intrusion in my life. “Thank you.”
“Just doing my job.”
I blinked, feeling like I’d been slapped back to harsh reality. I wasn’t sure why his words stung so badly, so I shoved my reaction aside. It had been a crazy night, and I was probably overemotional. “Well, still. Peace of mind right now is priceless.”
He nodded, his gaze roaming around the room, scrutinizing everything, as if searching for some sort of invisible clue in the damage. “Does any of this feel familiar to you?”
“What?”
He tilted his head toward the ugly words. “Has anyone ever called you those things before?”
“I...” I thought back to all of the hateful, spiteful things Christoph had said to me in the heat of the moment when we parted ways. He’d been casually cruel, but nothing like this. “No,” I finally said. “It doesn’t feel familiar.”
“Okay. Well, you’ll need to cancel classes until this is cleaned up. I suggest telling folks as little as possible. Say you have some emergency plumbing repairs, and the studio is unable to be used for the time being.” He pulled out his phone when it buzzed from his pocket and punched out a return text before facing me again. “And we have plans to go meet your brother for breakfast.”
“My brother?”
“Yes. He has some information for me, and he wants to see you.”
I gaped. “You told him about this, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. He’s paying the bill.”
I closed my eyes briefly, suddenly too tired to argue. Honestly, I could really use a Camden bear hug to make all of this feel better. “Fine.” I turned and strode out the door, unable to stand a moment longer in that room. Then I froze in the hallway as I caught sight of the back door. The one that they said had been ajar.
I spun around so fast that Justin nearly slammed into me. “I don’t remember setting the alarm.”
“What?”
“When I left tonight,” I said. “I was tired and hungry and focused on getting home.” I didn’t dare say how much he’d been preoccupying my thoughts of late, and I was stupidly thinking of seeing him at home. “Now I can’t remember if I set the alarm properly.”
“Of course you did.”
“What do you mean, of course I did? I just told you I don’t remember doing it.”
“And do you remember driving to work this morning? Driving home for that matter?”
“I . . .” I frowned. “Well, no.”
“Exactly. Because you do those things routinely. Just because you don’t remember doesn’t mean you didn’t do it. You’re looking for a reason to blame yourself, but this isn’t your fault. Even if you had forgotten, there doesn’t appear to be any sign of forced entry, so either you also forgot to lock the door, which is highly unlikely, or someone has a key.”
“No.” I began shaking my head. “That makes no sense.”
“Why is that?”
“Because. The only people who have a key to this place are me and Whitney and the leasing company, and Whitney would never...”