As Connor let go of the doors and they started to close, he stuck his hand in between them to stop them from closing, stepped out, and hugged me.

“I don’t want to go, Ellery.”

“Honey, it’s only for one night. You said yourself not to worry. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just hate being away from you,” he said as he kissed my head.

“I hate being away from you too, but you have to go. Now come on. Put your big boy pants on and go; you’re making things harder,” I said as I broke our embrace and patted him on the chest.

“No, Elle, you’re the one making things harder.” He winked as he looked down at the bulge in his pants.

“Get out of here, Black.” I laughed as he stepped onto the elevator.

A couple of hours had passed, and I took a nap. It had been forever since I took a nap without having to worry if Julia was going to wake up. I took the stairs down to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water. After checking my phone to see if I had any messages, I walked into the living room, turned on the fireplace, and sat down on the couch with a magazine. Being alone and not knowing what to do wasn’t sitting right with me, so I grabbed my keys and headed to my studio. When I stepped out the door, I told Justin that I was going down to my art studio. He nodded his head and followed me.

I set a blank canvas on the easel, took out my paints and brush, and started painting how I saw my alternate world. Each brush stroke helped me escape the dark reality of what was happening in my life. I looked at the clock and I’d been painting for two hours. It suddenly hit me that Phil was coming over to drop off some papers. I put my brush down and stepped outside the apartment. Justin wasn’t at the door, and I didn’t have time to look for him. I took the elevator up to the penthouse and as I unlocked the door, Phil walked up and startled me.

“I’m sorry, Ellery. Did I startle you?” he asked.

“Just a bit.” I laughed. “Come on in. I’m just going to go to the kitchen and wash up. I was painting.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Please take your time.”

I walked into the kitchen and, as I was washing my hands, Phil walked in. “So, do you have the place to yourself tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah. Connor’s on that business trip and Julia is spending the night at Mason’s. My friend Peyton is coming over and we’re having a girl’s night,” I said as I dried off my hands.

“Sounds like you’ll have a great night. When is Peyton coming over?”

A strange look overtook my face, as I couldn’t imagine why he’d ask or even care. “She’ll be here soon. Do you have those papers for Connor?” I asked.

“Oh, I left—umm—they’re in the living room,” he said nervously.

“Okay. Well, thank you for dropping them off, Phil. Peyton’s going to be here shortly, so I better get ready,” I said uneasily.

Something didn’t sit right with me. Phil was acting weird. I’d always thought he was strange, but Connor always defended him and said he’d had a bad childhood.

“No problem, Ellery. It’s always a pleasure to see you,” he said. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

I stopped, turned around, and looked at him as he slowly walked towards me. “No, of course not. Why would you make me uncomfortable? We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Yes, we have, and it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve grown quite fond of you,” he said as he took a strand of my hair between his fingers.

Something wasn’t right, and now wasn’t the time to freak out. I needed to remain calm and think clearly. My heart started racing, and I started to sweat. “Peyton is on her way. You really need to go.”

“I don’t want to go, Ellery. I was hoping that with Connor out of town, we could get to know each other better.”

“I think I know you well enough, and it’s time you left,” I said nervously as I began to walk past him.

He grabbed my arm. His grip was tight as his fingers dug into my arm. “Did you enjoy my text messages and the roses? I wanted to send you more, but I couldn’t run the risk of Connor finding out it was me who wanted his wife.”

“You—you were the one who sent me all those text messages?” I asked in disbelief and shock.

“Yes, Ellery.”

“But, why?”

A sick feeling arose in my stomach, and I needed to sit down because I felt like I was going to pass out. “I need to sit down,” I said.

“Of course. I’m sure this is overwhelming for you. You asked me why. The answer is simple; you’re beautiful, sensitive, loving, and giving. Do you know how hard it is to find someone like you in this f**ked up world we live in? Do you know how I’ve searched for that special woman my whole life? To think of all the whores I’ve f**ked, trying to find out if there was anything special about them. Then, all of a sudden, there you were. The more I watched your interaction with Connor, the deeper I fell for you.”

I began to shake as he walked over and sat down next to me. “Look at you, you’re trembling,” he said as he tried to pull me into him.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed as I flew off the couch.

“I need to touch you. I want to touch you. I want to know what it feels like to be inside you. I want to feel your come all over my c*ck and I want to hear you scream when I f**k you.”

“You’re crazy!” I said as I tried to run to the door.

He followed me and grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth with his hand. “Now be a good girl and do as I say. Connor will never have to know about this, because if you say a word to him or the police, you’ll never see that precious baby girl of yours again.”

My eyes widened when he said that, and I struggled to get out from his grip. “That’s right, Ellery. I know she means the world to you, and your love for her is stronger than any other love on this Earth. Do you promise not to scream?”

I nodded my head as I tried to formulate a plan. He slowly removed his hand from my mouth and ran it down my cheek. Suddenly, I went ballistic.

“You mother f**ker! There’s one thing you don’t do and that’s threaten a mother with her child!” I screamed as I rammed my knee into his crotch. He doubled over in pain, and I ran to the door. As I tried to open it, he slammed it shut.

“Please, Ellery, don’t make this difficult.”

“You’re crazy.” I started to cry as I slowly backed away from him.

“Not crazy; just in love. You know that it’s a proven fact that love can make a person crazy. Look at what it did to Ashlyn. Now, she’s one crazy bitch. But I didn’t blame her after everything Connor did to her. The way he led her on, took her out, and then f**ked her brains out every chance he got. No wonder the girl was messed up.”

I could barely swallow. It felt like my throat was closing up. I needed to get to my phone that was in the kitchen. As I turned around and tried to run, Phil grabbed me from behind and threw me on the floor.

“Please stop struggling and enjoy what I’m about to do to you. I promise you’ll love it and then all this struggle would’ve been for nothing.”

I lay there, kicking and trying to hit him before he held my wrists above my head with his hand, and he fumbled with the button on my jeans. The tears were falling from my eyes as I looked around the room. While I was struggling, thoughts of Connor and Julia flooded my mind. Suddenly, the door flew open and Connor pulled Phil off of me and punched him as hard as he could. Phil went down and Connor got on top of him. He grabbed Phil’s shirt and continuously punched him in the face, again and again as he screamed.

“You son of a bitch! How dare you touch my wife?” he said with each punch.

Detective James ran in and pulled Connor off of him. Justin followed behind and handcuffed Phil.

“You’re nothing but a piece of shit, and I’m going to make sure you rot in jail for the rest of your life for what you’ve done!” Connor yelled.

He turned and looked at me and was instantly by my side, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tightly. “Are you okay, baby? I’m so sorry we weren’t here earlier. Did he hurt you?” he asked as he looked me over.

I stood there, shaking, unable to wrap my head around what had happened as I stared at Connor in a daze. The only words I could muster up were, “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Chicago?”

He looked at me and pulled me into him, holding my head against his chest as Justin escorted Phil out of the penthouse. Detective James walked over to me and asked if I was okay. I nodded my head as I looked at him.

“You can relax now, Mrs. Black. He won’t be bothering you anymore.”

Connor led me over to the couch and continued to hold me. “Baby, I’m so sorry he did this to you,” he kept saying as he kissed my head. “Why didn’t you tell Justin you left your art studio?”

“I was going to, but he wasn’t there,” I said, still shaking.

I lifted my head from his chest and looked at him as I began to calm down. “How did you know I was in my studio?” I asked.

Connor stared at me and started to speak with apprehension. “There never was a business trip.”

“What?” I said in confusion. “I need a drink.”

Connor got up from the couch and walked over to the bar. He took out a glass and poured some whiskey in it. He couldn’t hand it to me fast enough as I grabbed the glass from his hands and threw it back, letting the soothing burn take over my body.

“I found out Phil was the one responsible for sending you the messages. That night he came over to have me sign those papers, he was acting strangely, and I could tell by the way he was looking at you and watching you, something wasn’t right. The next morning, I had Paul do some investigating, and he found the phone Phil used to send you the messages. Apparently, he bought it and had it activated in Chicago so it couldn’t be traced here to New York. I called Detective James and showed him the evidence. He said it wasn’t enough to put him away for a long time, and if he physically tried to harm you, he’d go away for many, many years. So, we came up with this plan to get him here alone with you, knowing he’d try something. But it wasn’t supposed to get as far as it did, Ellery, and I’m so sorry.”

As I sat there and listened to how Connor and Detective James set this up, tears started pouring from my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me or warn me?” I asked.

“Baby, please, don’t cry,” he said as he sat down and grabbed my hand.

I pulled away and got up from the couch. “Don’t touch me.”

“I couldn’t tell you because if you knew, you would have acted differently, and we couldn’t run the risk of him catching on. It was bad enough he was suspicious of the emergency Chicago trip and that he wasn’t going.”

“So you were just going to let him rape me?” I screamed.

Connor got up and started to walk towards me. “NO! I wasn’t. How the hell could you say that?”