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I didn’t want things to happen this way. But yes. I talked to Mark. You’ve been erratic. You accused me of things I would never do. That hurts me more than you could ever know. Even with all of that, I could forgive you and put it behind us. But now I know you’ve turned violent. To a victim you were supposed to protect, no less. I cannot tolerate that and you of all people know why. I’ve worked so hard to overcome my past. I cannot go back to that kind of life. I have to protect my own hard-won mental health. But I’m ready to talk about it. I want to see you. I’ll be back tomorrow evening. If you still care about me, you’ll give me the space I need. But you can come and collect some of your things. Please meet me at the house at six o’clock. I’m not a monster, Mina. In spite of everything they’re telling me, I want to believe you aren’t either.

My eyes went in and out of focus. I read Lock’s wall of text three more times. He believed Roy. He believed Corrine. My mind… my heart… were twisted up in knots. I knew the irony of this. For weeks, he’d begged me not to believe the worst of him. Now he was thinking the worst of me. How did we get here? How had our lives turned so violently upside down? I was lost. Spinning into space with no tether to Earth. God help me, the only person who could have made me feel safe was Lock.

FORTY

Elena was right. Though I didn’t fall asleep until almost two in the morning, when I woke up just after noon, I felt like a new woman. One that had a decision to make.

Was there anything still salvageable about my marriage? Had Lock really been seeing Corrine Egan behind my back all this time? Had she finally decided she wanted me out of the picture? If all those things were true, she’d gone about it in the most circuitous, insane way possible.

Which meant maybe Lock wasn’t really with her at all. But then why would he contact Mark like that and basically tell him I was crazy?

Was Lock really somehow involved in the case outside of Corinne? But why would she want to be with him if her story was true? If she believed he was dangerous?

I pulled my phone out. No missed calls. No missed texts. I pulled up his message and reread it. One passage stuck out at me as if it were written on a neon sign.

I want to see you. I’ll be back tomorrow evening. If you still care about me, you’ll give me the space I need. But you can come and collect some of your things. Please meet me at the house at six o’clock. I’m not a monster, Mina. In spite of everything they’re telling me, I want to believe you aren’t either.

I knew he couldn’t legally make me move out. It didn’t matter that the house was in his family name. It had been my home for two years. He couldn’t kick me out without a court order.

Unless I left voluntarily.

A new cold dread spread through me. Maybe that had been part of Corrine’s game all along. Make me feel unsafe enough in my own home that I’d leave it. Then Lock swooped in and finished the job.

And then there was Mark. There was no rule against my going to see Corrine. Her allegations of assault were completely made up and would never hold up to judicial scrutiny. Mark had no real grounds to suspend me. But Lock believed I was violent? That I could ever do to him what his parents had done? Again, my brain spun with the irony. I sat here in disbelief that Lock could think those things of me so quickly. But hadn’t I done exactly the same to him?

No. It wasn’t the same. I had proof. The photos of him with Corrine. The paint cans. The note. And then there were the coincidences that kept piling up. The rare Duvayre replica at Palicki’s house. The ribbons left with the victims. The underwear stolen from my own bedroom. I hadn’t made these things up. I wasn’t crazy. I couldn’t prove it. But Lock had to be connected somehow.

With a full night’s sleep, and two cups of coffee in me, I felt better prepared to go into battle. I put on my armor. I had one suit left in my bag. The black one. Lock called it my power suit.

I wore my hair sleek and straight, pulled back into a ponytail that hung to the middle of my back. I didn’t know what I wanted from Lock. But I knew I wasn’t going to let anyone dictate my future anymore.

First, I went to the office. As I stormed past Ashley’s desk, her face went pale.

“Mina,” she said. “You won’t⁠—”

I went to my office. When I tried to open the door, the knob wouldn’t turn. I pulled out my key card. Three red dots flashed across the lock pad. They never turned green. I didn’t hear the telltale click of the lock disengaging.

I swiped it again. Same problem.

“Mina,” Ashley said. “I’m sorry.”

“He locked me out?” I said.

I went across the hall to the conference room and tried to swipe that lock. Same result. I knew I’d find the same problem anywhere I went in the building. The only reason I got into the office at all was that the lobby doors weren’t locked until after five. Had I tried to come outside regular business hours, I would have been locked out completely.

“I’m sorry,” Ashley said again. “I wanted to call you, but Mark said I couldn’t.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in his office. Do you want me to tell him you’re here?”

“Don’t bother,” I said. I marched down the hall. Luckily, he hadn’t fully shut his own door, so I was able to barge right in.

He looked up, startled. “Mina. What are you doing here?”

“It’s Friday. I work here.”

“Shut the door, Ashley,” Mark barked.