Page 59 of Same Thing

Empty, she turned and made her way past Jackson’s front window, and up the stairs that would lead her back to her old life—the life that felt like she’d lived it a decade ago.

She still had so much to figure out.

“Hey, Nory?” a voice asked from behind her. It was Layla.

“Yeah?” she asked, feeling dead inside.

The apartment manager was dressed in a black pantsuit today, with a blue undershirt. “Can I talk to you?”

“I can come to the office in a little bit. I need to put my things down and…and…”stare at a wall for four hours and process the hundred things that just happened.

“We can absolutely meet in my office. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how bad it was with Jackson. I’m evicting Jackson. He will never be allowed to set foot on this property again.”

Nory frowned. “I don’t understand. You talked to him?”

“This morning. I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I got maintenance to let me into your apartment to see if what Liam told me is real. I saw the cameras.”

“The…cameras…” Nory repeated. Why were none of Layla’s words making any sense?

“The cameras Jackson had set up in your bedroom. I should’ve listened to you when you were telling me you didn’t feel safe here. Woman to woman? I should’ve taken it more seriously. I’m sorry. For your boyfriend too. He can visit you here. I can’t rent him an apartment again, but I won’t say anything if he comes and visits you here. He was right. I should’ve had your back. You don’t have to break your lease or move. Jackson won’t be here anymore. If he even sets foot on this property again, he will be arrested. I just wanted you to know.”

“Wait, he had cameras in my apartment?” Unease snaked in Nory’s gut. So he was still alive, but he’d set up cameras. That was what Layla was saying?

“I wanted to hand the evidence over to police, but Liam took it. He took it all. He said you wouldn’t want the police to see those images of you. Said you had been violated enough. He’s going to destroy all the photos and videos for you.”

Chills, chills, chills.

“Where is Jackson now?” she whispered, mortified.

“On a three-day psych hold,” Layla told her. “He showed up this morning covered in dirt, beat to hell, screaming about how the wolves were hunting him, and they’d buried him alive. Said they’d made him dig his own grave and buried him alive. Said he never wanted to see you again. Just…” She shook her head. “Screaming.” An accidental smile took her lips, and Layla ducked her gaze to the ground. “I think your man cured Jackson of his obsession with you.” She looked back up to Nory. “But I don’t know any details about that.”

Okay.

Nory turned for the stairs and climbed them slowly, her mind spinning.

Okay.

Liam and the guys had done something to Jackson. They’d taken him to the woods, and hunted him? And made him dig his own grave? And then buried him in it? And then what? Left him there to find his way out of the dark woods? Or they’d brought him back here? And then Liam had secured the images and videos of her?

He really would destroy those, she knew. He wouldn’t want something having the potential to haunt her later.

He was making her safe, even if they couldn’t be together.

Her eyes were blurry again, but as she slipped her key into her door to unlock it, she smiled to herself.

She loved him, and in his own way, he’d made sure she knew he cared for her too.

It had to be enough.

She had to figure out how to go back to her normal life after she’d changed from the inside out over the past few days, and Liam would have to figure out where he and his people would land.

And while she wished she could ask him all the questions and be there for him as he navigated the next week, she knew without the shadow of a doubt, she made everything worse for him. Why? Because of what she was. Because she was human.

He could keep her safe, but she couldn’t repay him in kind.

That would be the part that broke her heart over time.

Knowing he cared would have to be enough to keep her going when days got monotonous or felt empty.