The Hockey Star’s Remorse

Chapter 38

As soon as I stepped into the apartment, a shard of glass shattered beneath my shoe. I looked down and saw that it had belonged to the large lamp that had been on the small table near the door.

“What on Earth!” I stumbled inside, almost tripping over the debris on the floor. I heard a set of keys jingling behind me and whipped around, my senses on high

alert.

Aria was standing in the doorway, gawking at the display. Her eyes met mine, wide and perplexed.

“I just got back from work…” she said softly, taking it all in. Her eyes scanned the room and her face twisted up. “What the hell happened here?”

“Someone broke in!” I shouted, rushing toward her. There was broken glass everywhere. The photos on the wall had been knocked down, leaving trails of wood chips and torn paper.

The couch had been slashed and the cotton was spilling from every own slit. Like everything else, the kitchen was in shambles. There wasn’t a piece of dishware that didn’t look shattered.

Aria took hold of my arms and clung to my side, fortunately more alert than before. Her wide eyes darted across the room. “Who could’ve done this?”

I already knew the answer to that. “He just won’t give up.”

Aria narrowed her eyes. “Who’s ‘he? You know who did this?”

I bit

my lip and looked to the side. “I just assumed it was a man that did this,” I said, and she looked far from convinced.

“You said he won’t give up,” Aria pointed out. “Which implies that there have been other instances. Who is he?”

When it looked like she wasn’t giving up any time soon, I sighed and plopped down on my bed. Aria sat beside me. I didn’t catch her being serious all too often, but she was at her scariest when she was.

“I think it might have been Bruce,” I said carefully, unable to meet her gaze. “He’d been sending me texts for a while, but I didn’t think he’d

go this far.

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Aria stood abruptly, her hands clenched into fists. “Bruce? As in the Bruce, the scum bag that calls himself your family!?!”

I nodded weakly and she slapped a hand on her forehead, turning away.

“How could I not have known?? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to freak out!” I said, my voice cracking with the onset of tears. “Hell, I was freaking out so much, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even

to hear from

to the whole room with a wave of her arm. “Well, he’s made his

last thing I needed, and he made it evident in the most destructive way possible. It felt like sanity kept slipping away from me at

took out her phone and I

“What are you doing?”

hand away and frowned at me. “Calling the police, obviously.

held the phone to her ear. It took a few rings

would like to report a break in.” Aria stepped out of the room, leaving me to curl into a ball and sob

He’d already ruined my day just from leaving a letter. I guess he figured

room and stopped

wiped

sighed and sat beside me. She rubbed my arm and pulled

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Chapter 38

pulled my head into her lap and started running her fingers through my hair. My sobs grew

on the couch before answering the door. There was a male and

said the male officer. “I’m officer Brody, and this is Officer Hills. We got a call from this address saying that there had been

“Yes, that was me.

them around the apartment. They took note of the damages and asked her

you know if this person was after something?” asked Officer Hills. “Any

shrugged. “Evie, you might have to answer this

and I shrunk into the couch, wishing I could just disappear. I pulled

this before?” asked Brody. “If so, this may

first time

one another, then looked around

in your best interest to consider moving somewhere

but

some place you can

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Chapter 38

nodded. “We have a friend near here. He

away his notepad and motioned for Hills to follow. He opened the front door and looked back at Aria and me. “We’ll bring this info down to the

a tuft of cotton off the

She pulled out a suitcase and slammed it onto

practically out of breath. “We need to

have the motivation to move, but staying in that apartment at that point was out of the question. At a sloth’s pace, I removed myself from the couch and shuffled to my room to gather

still far from sobriety, she let me drive all the way to

as it was, I didn’t expect

ringing?” he