Page 67 of Second Chances

“In here.” She stood up and welcomed his embrace. She started shivering when his arms wrapped around her. “What happened?” he asked into her hair.

“Someone broke into my house.”

“Well, now,” Scott started, “we don’t know that for sure. Tom’s over there now checking the place out.”

“My back door was wide open,” she said, as Todd moved over and sat with her on the sofa.

“Where’s Simona?” he asked.

“Fast asleep upstairs,” Crystal said as she walked back into the room. “She’s safe. I told her you got scared, that’s all, and that she was going to spend the night here, with us.”

“Thank you.” Olivia relaxed back into Todd’s embrace. “I… didn’t know where else to go. You were the closest.”

“She ran,” Rory offered.

“My keys were in my hand, but… I froze up. Didn’t even think about driving.” She closed her eyes, feeling stupid. All she’d been thinking about was keeping Simona away from Brock.

“It’s not Brock,” Todd said softly. “He’s in jail in Boston.”

She glanced over at him. “How do you know that?”

“I… I’m keeping tabs on him,” Todd said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I just needed to know that he wasn’t going to come after you or Simona.”

Olivia’s heart jumped in her chest as she reached for him and pulled him into a hug again. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, I think I spooked myself over nothing.” She closed her eyes. “I probably left the door unlocked and it blew open.”

The more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself that that was the case.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” Scott suggested, “while we wait for Tom to get here.”

When Tom arrived, less than half an hour later, she ran through everything that had happened.

“Well, I couldn’t find anything out of place, but it was pretty obvious that someone broke in,” Tom informed them when he arrived.

“How?” both she and Todd asked at the same time.

“Your door lock is in pieces. Someone shattered it.” He shook his head. “It’s the damnedest thing. The entire door handle is shattered, like it was made out of glass.”

She felt Todd stiffen next to her.

“But nothing was taken? The television? My laptop was on the kitchen counter,” she asked.

“It’s all there.” Tom sighed. “But in the next few days, if you happen to find something missing, let us know.”

“Thanks.” Todd stood up and shook Tom’s hand.

“I shut the door and secured your deadbolt with the spare key you told me about.” He held out the keyring she kept hidden in an old tree stump by her back door. She knew better than to keep a hide-a-key under the mat or a fake rock, but the tree stump was so out of the ordinary, she figured no one would think to look there. Apparently, she’d been correct, since whoever had broken in hadn’t known about it.

“Why don’t you and Simona come stay with me for the rest of the night?” Todd suggested.

She wanted desperately to say yes, but something had her shaking her head no, instead.

“If I don’t go back now, I’ll become too afraid to be there by myself after dark. This is my home. I won’t let someone run me out of it because of fear,” she said confidently.

“I’ll go with you,” Todd agreed. “Don’t argue,” he added when she opened her mouth.