Chapter 2 - The man in the photograph.

Teresa left the lights off.

The apartment was quiet except for the soft hum of the refrigerator and the rain tapping against the balcony doors. Emma was asleep down the hall, curled around her favorite stuffed rabbit after crying herself to sleep. Mrs. Lim, the kind middle-aged woman Teresa had hired to look after Emma while she worked, has gone home, leaving a bowl of untouched soup in the kitchen and a note reminding Teresa to eat.

She hadn't.

The photograph lay on the coffee table.

She picked it up again.

The hospital logo in the corner had faded with time, but she remembered that day clearly enough. She remembered the ache in her ribs every time she drew a full breath. She remembered pulling her sleeves lower before walking outside. She remembered refusing the nurse's offer to call the police because she still believed she could fix her marriage if she tried a little harder.

What she didn't remember was him.

Lucas.

He stood across the street in a dark coat, half hidden behind a bus stop. The photographer had circled him in red, making him impossible to miss now.

Teresa turned the photograph over.

He never looked away.

She let out a dry laugh and tossed it back onto the table. "Then why didn't you do anything?"

The words disappeared into the empty apartment.

She reached for her phone, opened Lucas's contact, and stared at it. She didn't remember saving his number. Then she did. It had been years ago, after Victor, Lucas and Asher's father insisted every family member exchange emergency contacts during one of the Grimhollow charity galas.

She'd never used it, until now. Her thumb hovered over the call button.

No. This wasn't a conversation she wanted over the phone.

If Lucas had answers, he could look her in the eye while giving them.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The gates to Lucas Grimhollow's residence slid open before she had a chance to press the intercom.

Teresa frowned.

Either someone had been expecting her...

Or someone had been watching.

She drove through slowly, taking in the sprawling property. It was elegant without trying too hard. There were no fountains shaped like lions or gold statues lining the driveway the way Asher, her ex husband liked. The gardens were neatly kept, the house built from stone and glass, quiet enough that it almost disappeared behind the trees.

Lucas was already standing on the front steps. He hadn't bothered with a jacket despite the cool morning air. One hand rested in his pocket while the other held a coffee mug that looked forgotten the moment he saw her.

"You found this place," he said.

Teresa climbed out of the car and shut the door a little harder than necessary. "Don't flatter yourself. Your address isn't exactly a state secret."

He gave a small nod. "Fair enough."

She walked straight up to him and held out the photograph. "Explain."

Lucas looked down at it. His eyes paused on the red circle.

Then he lifted his gaze to hers. "Who sent this to you?"

Teresa folded the photograph before slipping it back into the envelope. "That's your explanation?"

"I asked you a question."

"And I asked mine first."

His grip tightened slightly around the mug before he set it on the stone railing beside him. "Who sent it?"

"I don't know."

"How did you get it?" He asked. 

"It was under my apartment door."

"When?"

"Yesterday." She narrowed her eyes. "You seem very interested in everything except the part where you're standing outside a hospital watching me." "I am interested in that."

"Really?"

"Yes, start talking."

For a long moment, Lucas said nothing. His gaze drifted past her toward the driveway as though he was listening for something she couldn't hear.

"I was there," he admitted quietly.

"That's it?" She let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "You admit it and think we're done?"

"I don't think we're done."

"Good."

She stepped closer until only a foot separated them. "You watched me leave that hospital."

"Yes."

"You knew what your brother was doing." 

His jaw shifted. "Yes."

"And you did nothing."

The words hung between them.

Lucas didn't flinch. "I did more than you know."

She shook her head. "Don't give me riddles. I have spent years trying to make sense of that family. I'm done filling in the blanks for you."

"I can't tell you everything." Lucas said, his gaze drifting away. 

She searched his face for guilt, for shame, for the practiced lies she'd learned to recognize in Asher. She found neither. That irritated her more than if he'd tried to defend himself. "You always have an excuse."

A sharp beep interrupted the silence.

His head turned immediately toward the wall inside the foyer where several security monitors had come to life.

The change in him was instant. He crossed the room without another word.

Teresa followed, more annoyed than curious. "I haven't finished with you."

"I know." He tapped one of the screens.

A camera overlooking the front gate filled the monitor.

Across the road, a dark sedan sat beneath a line of trees.

It wasn't moving.

The windows were too heavily tinted to see inside.

Teresa frowned. "Someone's parked."

"They've been there."

"You know that how?"

Lucas checked another screen showing the same stretch of road from a different angle. A timestamp in the corner rolled backward as he replayed the footage.

The sedan hadn't moved. "They arrived before you did," he said.

"So?"

"They haven't taken their eyes off this house."

Teresa looked from the screen to him. "You think they're watching you?"

"I don't know who they're watching."

As if the driver had sensed they were being observed, the sedan's brake lights flashed. The engine started.

The car pulled away without hurry, disappearing around the bend.

Lucas kept watching the empty road long after it was gone.

Teresa folded her arms. "You're serious." She studied him carefully.

His shoulders were tense. His attention never wandered back to the photograph or their argument. Whatever had just happened mattered more to him than defending himself.

That thought unsettled her.

Lucas turned away from the monitor and faced her again. "I need you to answer something."

"What?"

"Has anyone else contacted you since the custody hearing?"

The question slipped past her before she had time to think. "No."

He nodded once. Then he seemed to realize what he'd said.

Teresa's eyes narrowed. "The custody hearing?"

Lucas remained silent. She took a slow step toward him.

"I never told you there was a hearing yesterday."

His phone rang. He glanced at the screen and answered immediately. "I'm listening."

The voice on the other end spoke for several seconds.

Lucas's expression changed.

He walked to the window overlooking the city, his eyes settling on the cluster of apartment buildings in the distance.

He rested a hand against the glass and spoke so quietly Teresa almost missed it.

"They've started sooner than I expected."

The call ended. He didn't turn around.

Teresa looked from the silent phone in his hand to the distant skyline, then back at the photograph still lying on the table.

For the first time since walking into his house...

She was sure Lucas was the one she should be afraid of.