Page 72 of The Model

Lexie: How’s it going?

Raine: At the grocery store now.

This pregnancy causeda lot of things, but hallucinations weren’t one of them. Maybe I had been working myself too hard to get everything done before Ryder got home. Still, something didn’t feel right. Taking my headphones off so I could be more aware, I went back to my picture. The model had been difficult to work with, but she ended up producing some of the best pictures I’d taken this year. Besides Ryder’s, of course. He was film gold.

I heard movement in one of the studios, and I knew my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. It wasn’t loud, but I was alone or supposed to be alone. Pulling up my security app, I saw that the alarm wasn’t set, and the front door was unlocked. I had probably distracted Raine when she was leaving, causing her to forget.

It was probably some homeless person who slipped inside looking for food, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Hitting the silent alarm, I started to pull up the video of the front door. It would take a few seconds before it would show me all the events that had triggered it.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited to do this?” A cold voice said from behind me.

My heart lodged in my throat as I panicked, trying to get up. My laptop crashed to the floor as I all but fell trying to get upright.

Ben stood behind the couch with an evil sneer on his face. His clothes were torn and dirty, hair greasy, and his face was smudged with dirt. He looked like a man who lived on the streets. With his face contorted in anger, I was truly scared for my life. What had I ever seen in this man? Over the last few months, I’d wondered how he seemed to become unhinged. Had I missed something during our time together?

“So he knocked you up,” he nodded to himself. “Now I understand why he’s been sticking around.”

“What are you talking about?” I wasn’t sure how long it would take the police to arrive, but I wanted to keep him talking in the hopes they’d get here before he hurt my baby or me.

“The guy who’s been living here for the last few months.” He jerked his arm out toward me, making me jump back. “That’s why he’s been here, but he’s gone now.”

“Gone?”

Had he done something to Ryder? No, it wasn’t possible. He was in New York, and I’d talked to him only an hour before.

“I saw him leave with his things.”

“How long have you been watching me?”

A low growl emanated from him. “All this time. Every time that you left with your annoying assistant until the timing was perfect.”

“The perfect for what?”

“I’ve been patient. Oh, so patient as I waited for someone to slip up. When you added all your extra security, I thought my shot at getting to you was gone. I almost gave up, and now I’m glad I didn’t.”

My body started to shake at his words. He’d been watching for months waiting for the perfect opportunity to do what?

“Whatever you’re looking for isn’t here. The cops came and searched—”

“I know!” he screamed madly. “I saw the whole thing. Do you realize how much shit you’ve put me through?”

“Me? This is all on you. Why did you plant drugs in my things?”

“I was hiding them. I never thought you’d move out of the apartment.” He shook his head in jerky movements. “You did this to me,” he growled.

“Did what?” I asked, taking a step back only for the back of my knees to hit a table.

“This is all your fault, and now you have to pay the way I paid.” He took a menacing step around the couch, and my heart nearly stopped. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of this one.

Where the hell were the police?

“Ben, please don’t do this. I’m pregnant and about to have my baby any day now. You would never hurt an innocent child.” I tried to reason with him.

“It astonishes me how little you know me.”

Me too. I couldn’t believe I’d ever been mixed up with him, and now he was here and willing to hurt me.

“That should be my child. Not that pretty boy’s.”

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