“It feels like they do.”
“They got you scared. That ain’t the same as controlling you.”
“It doesn’t feel different.”
I understood what she meant. Somebody had taken the simplest things from her. Going to work. Coming home. Sitting at lunch without wondering who might be watching. She was trying to rebuild her life after her ex, and now people she didn’t know were making every decision feel temporary.
I reached for her hand.
“This ain’t forever.” She looked down at our hands before meeting my eyes. “I’m gonna find out who they are,” I continued. “Until then, you’re staying somewhere they can’t reach you.”
Milan held my stare for another second before giving a small nod.
“A’ight,” she said quietly.
I almost smiled at her using my word but didn’t. I picked up the suitcase, and we headed back downstairs.
Mace was waiting in the lobby when we returned. “Cameras on her floor went down for twenty-three minutes.”
My grip tightened around the suitcase handle. “Again?”
“Different system, same shit.”
Milan looked between us. “So somebody shut the cameras off, again?”
“Looks that way,” Mace answered.
Her face changed, and I watched the last bit of doubt leave her. She didn’t ask whether staying with me was necessary again.
Mace looked at the bags. “She going with you?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes moved to Milan before returning to me. “Good.”
Mace promised to call the second he had anything, then went back to dealing with the police and security. I carried Milan’s bags to my truck, loaded them into the back and opened the passenger door for her.
The ride to my place was quiet for the first few minutes. Milan stared out the window while I kept checking the mirrors, looking for any car that stayed with us too long.
“Do you think somebody followed us tonight?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re checking.”
“Yeah.”
She watched me for a second before looking back outside. “I hate this… Every time I start feeling normal again, something happens.”
“They want you scared.”
“Well, it’s working.”
I reached across the console and rested my hand over hers. The move surprised both of us, but Milan didn’t pull away. Sheturned her hand beneath mine and loosely curled her fingers around it.
“You ain’t dealing with this alone,” I told her.
She looked at me. “You keep saying that.”