Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

“Your boyfriend told me you were staying at his place last night so he could fix your door.”
“My boyfriend?”
“Bald guy, big shoulders. I didn’t get his name.”
My stomach pitches. His description fits Hollis, but that’s crazy… isn’t it? “You let a strange
man change the lock on my apartment?”
“I didn’t let a strange man do anything, I let your boyfriend do it. And you should be thanking him
—whatever you did to that door would have come out of your security deposit if he hadn’t fixed it for
you.”
“Whatever I did—” I cut off the indignant urge to point out that the lock on that door was broken
when I moved into the place. He’s been saying he would fix it literally since before I signed my lease,
but the more pressing issue is that he let a strange man into my apartment while I wasn’t home!
“Armen, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah,” I say, flicking a glance at my door. “And honestly, I’m not very happy that you just let
some guy who said he was my boyfriend change my locks without any proof. Did he buy the new
doorknob himself? This man probably has a key to my apartment now.”
“Why would some man who isn’t your boyfriend pay all that money to replace the door and the
doorframe, plus buy you new locks for your front door? How does that make any sense?”
“There’s a lot going on in my life right now that doesn’t make much sense,” I murmur.
“I don’t have time for this relationship drama of yours,” Armen tells me. “Your boyfriend or notboyfriend
or whatever the hell he is… he left your new keys taped in the front of your mailbox.”
Without giving me time to respond, he says, “I gotta go. Bye.”
Huffing with annoyance, I tuck my phone back in my purse and haul Marie downstairs so I can
retrieve my door keys. When I come back up, I take a proper look for the first time. My apartment
door doesn’t match the rest in the building anymore. The new doorknob is matte black. The old one
was a cheap, brassy gold, but the color had faded in most spots. There’s a new deadbolt installed,
too. Since everything else was replaced, a new chain lock was installed as well.
I turn around and quickly survey the area before I put Marie down. Nothing inside looks
different, but I know someone connected to Calvin was in here now, and I have a strong suspicion he
kept a key for himself.
Before I hadn’t wanted to wake him, but now that I’m at home where I should be safe and I know
someone has been in my apartment, I want to make sure it was the psycho I know. I can’t imagine a
burglary ring being very profitable if they went around replacing doors on every house they wanted to
rob first, but I’d still like to know for sure.
As soon as Marie’s food has been dished out and she’s eating, I grab my phone out of my purse