Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

together enough courage to leave my safe haven, the man was gone.
My front door was locked, but not deadbolted. The lock on the doorknob has been busted since I
moved in, so the place isn’t actually secure until the deadbolt is engaged. The man wouldn’t have
been able to do that from outside without a key, so I walked over and locked it myself. I looked
around the kitchen, but nothing appeared to be displaced. When I returned to my bedroom, I found a
cup of steaming hot tea waiting on my bedside table.
He made me tea?
I didn’t drink it, of course. It could have been drugged. I took it to the kitchen and dumped it out,
but it still seemed strange that the bodyguard provided post-assault aftercare.
That conjured memories of the moments immediately afterward when Calvin sat on the couch
and played with my hair. The gentle way he touched me, the reassuring tone of his voice; it was
almost like he was trying to…
I shake off the thought without finishing it.
Fuck Calvin Cutler.
At least it’s over now and I’ll never have to see him again.
___
“Have you seen my brooch?”
I look up at Charity, an absolute vision in her form-fitting wedding gown with her dark hair piled
in an elegant mass on the right side of her head. She looks gorgeous, but also stressed out as she looks
around for her misplaced item.
Charity is so not a brooch person, so I’m a little thrown. “Your brooch?”
She nods impatiently. “For my bouquet. Tyler’s grandma gave it to me so I’d have ‘something
old’ for the wedding ceremony. Maybe I left it in the other room. Can you go grab it for me?”
“Of course.”
I gather up the bottom of my blush pink gown and head toward the suite where the bridesmaids
are getting ready.
“If you wrinkle that dress, I’ll kill you,” Charity calls out.
Sighing, I let the bottom of the dress fall, kicking at the yards of fabric as I make my way into the
next room. I love a pretty dress as much as the next person, but even after altering, mine hits the floor
and I keep feeling like I’m going to step on it.
“Have you seen Charity’s brooch?” I ask the first bridesmaid that looks at me.