Page 5 of The Burdens We Share (Satan’s Angels #3)

Ivory

My front door shuts behind me with a loud click.

I turn the deadbolt and kick off my pink sneakers, dragging my feet down the marble-stoned hallway and to my stairs.

Curse you, Selene Stone for making me get up so early.

I’m so exhausted. My stomach growls, and I realize I still haven’t eaten anything today.

I want to eat, but I’m also exhausted and just want to hit the pillow.

I tell myself that’s the only reason I’m not eating anything, but the truth is that every time I think of eating something, I see that zoomed-in picture of my body on Nara’s iPad and her bitter words come to mind.

I march up my stairs and further away from my kitchen. I should be so happy right now. I just got a huge opportunity in my career. I was just offered a movie about my life and better yet, I get to experience it with my best friends. Instead, I’m a bitter mess because I’m hangry and oh so tired.

I make it to my bedroom door and push it open, pulling the white t-shirt over my head and tossing it to the floor.

I unzip the fly of my jeans and shove them down my legs, stepping out of them and leaving them on the floor.

I’ll clean up later. For now, I just want to go back to bed.

I’m too lazy to even put pajamas on right now. My bra and panties will have to do.

I take a step towards my bed and freeze.

My brows draw together and my spine goes stiff.

My covers are pulled over my pillow as if someone made a shitty effort of making my bed.

When I left this morning, I left the blankets tossed around like a messy child, but I remember seeing them closer to the foot of the bed when I left my bedroom.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid- I was really tired this morning.

Maybe I didn’t see correctly because I was so tired. Right? That’s possible, isn’t it?

I shake off my anxiety and walk over to my bed, pulling the covers back and preparing to climb in.

When I draw the pink satin sheets and white comforter back, I gasp.

I can feel the hairs on my arms rising and goosebumps forming.

I can feel a chill down my spine and my skin going pale.

I want so badly to believe my eyes are playing a trick on me, that someone is playing a trick on me.

This can’t be real. There can’t be a pink rose—identical to all the others I’ve gotten—on my pillow.

I blink rapidly, hoping that the rose will disappear from sight and this will never have happened.

But it doesn’t. Of course, it doesn’t. Someone, whoever has been leaving me these roses, has been in my house.

This person was in my home and could still be here.

I look around my bedroom and panic. I have a state-of-the-art security system.

How could someone have gotten past it? I look back down at the rose and this time, I notice a white envelope beside it on my pillow.

It’s sealed with a pink wax seal, a heart stamped into it.

My body trembles as I reach for the envelope. My hands tremble as I carefully open it and flip over the white card.

Hello again, Ivory.

Did you miss me? I’ve been so close to you these past few months, but I thought it was time to say hello properly. The roses were just a little reminder that I’m always near, watching over you.

I couldn’t resist leaving this note on your pillow, seeing your peaceful face while you sleep. It’s almost like we’re sharing a secret no one else knows. I hope you like the rose. There’s so much more to come.

Yours, always.

I drop the note and panic. Oh my God. He was here?

Watching me sleep? Panic and fear consume me, threatening to devour me whole.

I can’t stop shaking and I can’t think clearly.

What do I do? I look around my room as if the answer is right there somewhere, and when my eyes land on my phone, I immediately pick it up knowing what I have to do.

I dial Selene’s number and the phone rings once before she picks up, “What happened? You just saw me less than an hour ago. Please tell me you’re calling because you miss me and not because something happened.” Her voice is playful, but I’m feeling anything but.

Did you miss me? The first sentence of the note comes back to mind at her words and I suck in a sharp breath. “Selene.” My voice cracks.

Hearing something in my voice, she goes all business, “What happened?”

I don’t want to fall apart, but I am. My eyes start to water and a tear rolls down my cheek as I shatter, “Selene, someone was in my house.”

“What do you mean?” I hear the worry in her voice. It’s nothing compared to the disarray I’m feeling.

Tears spill, thick with fear. I was such a fool for not taking the roses seriously.

I should’ve said something, done something sooner.

Maybe if I had this person wouldn’t have gotten into my house.

I shouldn’t have been so cocky, so arrogant to believe I was untouchable.

“I’ve been getting roses, all over. I find them in dressing rooms, I even found one on my car one time, I- I-” a sob cuts me off.

“Ivory, I need you to tell me what’s going on. What about these roses? You find them in all these weird places? How long has this been happening and what does this have to do with your house?”

I try to steady my breathing enough to get the words out, but they still come out broken and slow from my uncontrollable sobs, “It started when Aria was in the hospital. I got a text that day from a blocked number. I- I didn’t th-” I hiccup, “I didn’t think anything of it.

I thought it was a pr- pra- prank.” I take a deep breath and continue, “I never got another text and I honestly didn’t think it had to do with the roses until now. ”

Selene, the woman who never flinches, sounds scared, “Okay, you thought it was a prank. What happened with these roses?”

“I find these pink roses everywhere, Selene,” I sob.

I hear a noise like a car is passing as Selene asks, “So you’ve found about how many? And you said this has been going on for months?” I realize she must be in the car.

I nod even though she can’t see me, “I don’t know for sure—maybe ten? A little more or less. It all started when Aria was in the hospital so about three months now,” I realize how stupid I sound. Selene probably thinks I am so stupid for not speaking up sooner, for letting it get this far.

She exhales and the sound comes out shaky. “And you said someone was in your house? Are you sure they aren’t still there?”

My eyes widen in fear. I didn’t even consider the possibility that they could still be inside.

I rush to my bedroom door and slam it shut, turning the lock then stumble back, heart hammering.

I take steps backward, afraid to take my eyes off the door in case someone tries to break through it.

“I didn’t look. Oh my God, Selene, what if he’s still here? ”

I hear the rev of an engine like Selene is driving in F1. “I’m on my way there, okay? I need you to keep me on the phone and call 911. You’re gonna have to add a contact to the call and do it that way so I can stay on the line with you.”

I hesitate with shaky hands to obey her directions. “Ivory, okay?”

“Yes, yes. I’m trying to do it now,” I fret.

I finally manage to dial 911 and when the operator picks up and asks what my emergency is, Selene speaks for me, “My name is Selene Stone. I have my client on the line here and someone broke into her home today. She’s very worried and we aren’t sure if this person is still in her house.”

The dispatcher sends police to my house and Selene tries to keep me calm, while also getting answers out of me, “You’re positive this is the person that’s been leaving the roses and not just a random break in?”

“There was a rose on my pillow with a note,” my voice comes out so low it almost sounds like a whisper.

Selene slaps what sounds like her steering wheel and blusters, “Fuck!”

I hear distant sirens and know the police have arrived and Selene will be here soon.

I curl into a ball on the floor of my bedroom, the marble floors biting into my exposed flesh.

I don’t even feel the cold—just the fear.

My body shakes. I start to shiver—but not from the cold. From pure and undiluted fear.