I creep toward the front door of my apartment, dread and regret making me walk at a snail’s pace. I feel ashamed by my actions and don’t know how to make it right. I’ll just have to apologize to both Cal and Mason and reassure them I won’t ever go rogue again. I take a deep breath as I stand in front of my door and slowly open it.

Robert and Mason are sitting on the couch while Cal is standing, staring out the window. All three men look at me as I enter the apartment. I can feel Cal’s anger radiating off of him and decide to apologize first to Mason, whose clothes are drenched from sweat.

“I want everyone except for Jenna out of this apartment.” Cal growls as he turns around and looks at me. Robert and Mason look at Cal, then at each other, and decide not to leave. For both of them to defy Cal’s order must mean Cal is beyond furious.

I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat and start apologizing, “Cal, I…”

“You little fool! Do you know what could have happened to you out there?” he yells, his eyes demanding in fury, the vein in his neck bulging with each breath.

“I’m sorry, really I am. Mason, I’m sorry!” I turn to Mason, who just nods at me, acknowledging my apology without any words.

“What were you hoping to prove, Jenna? Did you know you caused a three-car pile-up with your little stunt?” His nostrils flaring with disgust at my actions.

I feel even more remorseful now and just look down at my hands.

“Tell me, Jenna, what were you hoping to prove?” Cal shouts at me as if I were a child. Although I understand him being upset, I don’t appreciate him treating me this way in front of Mason and Robert.

“C’mon Cal, she apologized. Jenna, you won’t do that ever again, right?” Robert asks, looking tired from all of the worrying I’ve put him through.

“I promise, I won’t ever do that again.” I confirm, hoping that this will calm Cal down and we can move on from this.

“You’re damn right you’ll never do that again because THIS is why you need a bodyguard, Jenna!” He grabs a large zip lock bag off the table and makes his way toward me.

“NO Cal! She’s had enough for today!” Robert yells as he tries to grab whatever is in Cal’s hand, but misses.

Cal shoves the bag in my hands and I gasp at the sight of a black-and-white photo of Avery and me. Our eyes have been cut out and there is a gooey red substance all over the photo. The words “DIE” scrawled in the same red substance.

I look up at him, then at Robert, in complete horror, my brain refusing to register what it just saw.

“This,” Cal takes the bag out of my hands and shakes it in my face, “is WHY Mason is here! You could have gotten yourself killed today!” he spats at me.

“STOP Cal! You’ve made your point!” Robert shouts out in frustration.

With my eyes refusing to look away from the image of Avery, eyeless and bloody, bile starts to rise up my throat and I take off in a run for my bathroom, shutting the door and barely making it to the toilet. When I think my body can’t take anymore, the dry heaving turns to wails as I scream and cry at the thought of anyone hurting my daughter. I lay on the floor of the bathroom, my body trembling and heaving with each tear that falls.

Eventually exhaustion takes over and the tears dry up. I continue to lay on the floor in a daze and before long, my inner voice tells me to get up. I stand up and flush the toilet and look in the mirror. My eyes are red, my whole face is puffy and swollen from crying. I wash my hands, brush my teeth and gargle with mouthwash. I untie my hair from its ponytail and decide to go back out there to find out more details of where the photo came from.

Cal is sitting on the floor of my bedroom, his back against my bed, waiting for me. His one knee is pulled up, supporting his arm that hangs over it, while his other hand lays against his thigh. He lifts up his head and looks at me with eyes filled with anguish. I walk up to him and as I approach, he holds out his hand to me. I reach out to grasp it, thinking he needs help getting up, but instead he pulls me down into his lap and hugs me tightly. The unexpected comfort undoes me as I clutch at his shirt and sob into his chest. He rocks me silently, letting the wetness of my tears soak through the expensive fabric of his shirt. We stay this way until my tears end and continue to just hold each other.

“I’m sorry, Jenna. I shouldn’t have done that.” I hear the regret deep in his voice. “I was scared and angry when Mason came back without you and I needed you to understand the real reason why he was here. Last night’s incident just moved up the process of him arriving sooner.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the photo? When did we get it?” I softly ask, needing some answers to so many questions.

“It arrived in the mail last week. Robert found it and immediately called me. I went to the police, who got the FBI involved. They tested it for fingerprints, but it came up empty.”

“Last week?” I look up at him in disbelief. “Cal, you can’t keep these things from me!”

“You’re absolutely right, Jenna. But with everything that’s been going on, I wanted to shield you from it and hope it didn’t happen again. I know that was wrong.”

“You have to communicate with me, Cal. I can’t be left in the dark about something so serious, despite you wanting to protect me from it.”

“Can we make a pact that we’ll both work on communicating better with each other?” he asks and I nod in consent, vowing to work on it from my end.

“Good.” He leans down and kisses my forehead. I look at those lips and start to remember how they made me feel. Heat starts to pool inside of me and I look up to see him watching me, his gaze alternating between my lips and my eyes. I swallow and lick my dry lips, which make his eyes darken with desire. He bends his head, his lips descending slowly to mine when a knock on my door stops him.

“Cal, your agent keeps calling you.” Robert’s muffled voice is heard through the door.

“Be right there,” he calls. He looks back down at me and smiles.

“Why don’t you get freshened up and then come out so we can talk about how we are going to utilize Mason.” I nod my head as we untangle our arms and help each other up. I watch him walk out and close my door, deciding that I need to stay away from any physical contact with Cal. You are fresh off of a break up, Jenna, you are just emotional. Focus on keeping Avery safe! With that pep talk, I go into the bathroom to take a shower to clear my head.