Page 42 of Breaking Point

He withdraws his phone to show me a picture of my apartment. It’s the view of my kitchen from the island, but in the middle of the white quarts there’s a bouquet of putrid red roses wrapped in crisp brown paper, crimson ribbon tied around the stems.

My stomach drops as I take the phone to zoom in more closely.

The notes. The flowers.

“Where did you find these?”

“In the kitchen.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “You found theminside??” I ask, my voice hoarse.

His eyes burn into me, and I don’t like that he can read the panic on my face. “Just like that. On the counter.”

They were in my house. They came into my apartment-

“Was- Was there a note? You didn’t find anything else?”

He says gently, “Is there something you need to tell me?”

My palms feel sweaty all of a sudden, any chill I had before now gone. I try to swallow the wave of sickness that follows.

They hurt her. They broke in, hurt her, and left the flowers behind.

“I-“ The words get caught in my throat. “I think I’ve made a mistake.”

He stills, body going tense as he blinks. “What are you talking about?”

I look at him, still unable to form the words.What if this is all my fault?

“I’ll show you.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, I stop by the front desk and tell the nurse my plan. Even if I don’t sleep tonight, I can at least get home, change, maybe clean the havoc that’s been left in my apartment. But first, I have to come clean.

Crew and Taylor follow behind, and when I wordlessly get in Taylor’s car, Taylor drives me back with Crew on our tail. As the tires rumble over the road, I try not to think about Chesna’s blood still staining the seats.

Part Two

Denial

Chapter Twenty-One

Crew

Lying has always bothered me. Even if hiding the note left in Olivia’s apartment is the right thing to do, I still hate the taste it leaves in my mouth.

I was right about this job:

Someone’s targeting the Hughes... and my gut is telling me Harvey knows why.

Why else would he ask that we keep the note from his daughter?

As soon as we got to the apartment, Olivia showed us the five notes:

A rose is only half as beautiful as you.

Thinking about you.

Do you think about me too?

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