Chapter 3

The doctor cleared me to leave the next afternoon. I went back to our apartment in Jersey City intending to collect my ID and work laptop, then find somewhere else to stay.

Dario had a key. When he arrived, Livia and a man I'd never seen followed him in. One of Dario's bodyguards waited outside the door.

Dario held his phone in front of me. In the video, the man, his face bruised and swollen, claimed I'd hired him to hurt Livia the night before.

"I don't know him," I said.

"He even told me how much you offered to pay."

"You brought him here. Did you ask him for proof I paid him?"

Livia clung to Dario's arm, her voice trembling. "I hope it wasn't Lena, too."

Dario put his phone away. "Admit it now and I'll let it go."

I glanced toward the bodyguard. "You heard that? He doesn't even have evidence."

Dario's expression darkened. He ordered the bodyguard to keep watch at the door, then turned to the man. "Make her tell the truth."

I took a step back. "You brought someone who claims he was going to hurt Livia into our home, and now you're leaving me with him?"

"I'll be right downstairs. He won't dare try anything else."

Livia tugged his sleeve. "Dario, let's go."

After they stepped out, I heard the lock turn. The fear vanished from the man's face. I grabbed a table lamp and smashed it into him, then rushed to the door and shouted for help. The bodyguard outside didn't open it.

For a long time afterward, I couldn't bring myself to say the whole thing aloud. The man sexually assaulted me.

As he left, I heard someone arguing with him outside the door. Then the footsteps receded. I gripped my phone and called 911 first, then Emilio.

"I'm at the apartment." My voice shook so badly I could barely speak. "I need you to help me find a lawyer."

The line went quiet for a second. "I'll handle that. Don't clean up anything before the police get there. I'm on my way."